Senators defeat Rangers, deny Lundqvist win No. 450

NEW YORK -- Henrik Lundqvist failed in his sixth attempt at NHL win No. 450 when the New York Rangers lost to the Ottawa Senators 4-1 at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday.

Lundqvist made 27 saves for the Rangers (31-36-13), who had won two straight.
"It's disappointing, because it comes down to a couple of plays where if our effort is a little higher, I think there's no goals (allowed)," Lundqvist said. "No offense to Ottawa, but they aren't a really strong team. We should have been able to be in this one a little bit better. But they played smart enough after the lead."
WATCH: [All Senators vs. Rangers highlights]
Brady Tkachuk had a goal and an assist for the Senators (29-45-6), who won for the third time in their past 12 road games (3-8-1).
Bobby Ryan gave the Senators a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 12:14 of the first period. He took a pass from Chris Tierney from behind the net and scored with a wrist shot. Tkachuk got the secondary assist to extend his point streak to four games (three goals, three assists).
Zack Smith made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 13:29, tipping in a pass from Magnus Paajarvi. It was the fourth shorthanded goal of the season for Ottawa.
"Special teams was big tonight," Smith said. "We showed we wanted to win tonight and we were the better team all around and we deserved that one."

Tkachuk scored for a 3-0 lead at 3:51 of the second period, tucking a rebound past Lundqvist. It was his sixth goal in his past eight games.
"I really liked our young guys," Senators coach Marc Crawford said. "They seemed to be in the middle of everything all night, whether it was young Brady or [Colin] White (two assists). They both passed 40 points, which is a pretty significant feat for rookies in the Ottawa Senators (history)."
Lias Andersson got the Rangers within 3-1 with a shorthanded goal at 4:52, converting on a 2-on-1 with Vladislav Namestnikov.

The Rangers allowed two power-play goals on six opportunities and a shorthanded goal.
"We've played with some pace and some oomph and some passion, with some desire and we've cared," New York coach David Quinn said. "Tonight we didn't have any of that."
Brian Gibbons gave the Senators a 4-1 lead at 14:58 of the third period on a tic-tac-toe play with White.
"We dig ourselves a hole and we aren't working smart enough," Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad said. "They might be in last place, but it's not going to be an easy game against any team in this league, and we didn't work hard enough to give ourselves a chance."

Anders Nilsson made 27 saves for Ottawa.
"I think we played a full 60-minute effort and we didn't give them a whole lot," Nilsson said. "Obviously they have some skilled guys that generate some chances for them, but other than that ... we deserved to win tonight."
Lundqvist, who last won on March 9 and has two wins since Feb. 1, remained at 449 NHL wins, five behind Curtis Joseph for fifth in history. The Rangers have two regular-season games remaining.
"I don't know if I deserve to play," Lundqvist said. "[Backup Alexandar] Georgiev has been winning, he's been playing really well. I'm not finding ways to get wins here. It's been a draining few months here not getting it done."

They said it

"We didn't bring really anything tonight. It was just an embarrassing effort. I don't know if we expected the game to come easy or whatever it was tonight, but we certainly didn't put forth an effort that deserved any sort of result." -- Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk
"Any time you get two power-play goals in any game like that is huge. Special teams, the power play, has been good for us all year." -- Senators forward Colin White

Need to know

Lundqvist is 18-23-10 this season; he has an active streak of 14 straight 20-win seasons, which is the NHL record. ... Tkachuk has 45 points (22 goals, 23 assists). White has 41 (14 goals, 27 assists). ... Zibanejad won the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award given to the Rangers player chosen by the fans who "goes above and beyond the call of duty." ... It was the eighth time the Senators have scored multiple power-play goals this season.

What's next

Senators: At the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; MSG-B, RDS2, TSN5, NHL.TV)
Rangers: Host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, MSG+, FS-O, NHL.TV)