First-period explosion powers Senators past Rangers

Brady Tkuchuk scored his 200th career goal and collected two of his three assists in a four-goal first period for the Ottawa Senators, who netted the first six goals of an 8-4 victory over the host New York Rangers on Wednesday night.

Tkachuk joined Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza and Alexei Yashin as the fourth player to score 200 goals for Ottawa when he finished off a 2-on-1 to give the Senators a 3-0 lead.

Dylan Cozens added a goal and two assists in Ottawa's dominant period. Drake Batherson and Nick Jensen scored in the opening 4:53 before Tkachuk and Cozens scored in the final five minutes of the period.

Jake Sanderson and Thomas Chabot scored in the second to chase New York goalie Jonathan Quick. David Perron scored in the third and Tim Stutzle added an empty-netter as the Senators posted their second-highest goal total in any game against the Rangers.

Ridly Greig contributed a career-best three assists by setting up the final three goals of the opening period as the Senators recorded their top goal total of the season.

Ottawa goalie Leevi Merilainen made 18 saves.

Rookie Gabe Perreault tallied twice and Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and an assist for New York. Noah Laba also scored, and J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad each notched two assists.

The Rangers dropped their fifth straight game (0-4-1) and have been outscored 30-12 since beating the Florida Panthers in the Winter Classic. New York also dropped to 5-13-4 at home and heard boos throughout along with various chants calling for general manager Chris Drury to be fired.

Quick allowed six goals on 17 shots and dropped to 0-9-2 in his past 11 appearances. He has allowed 19 goals while starting each of the past four games since Igor Shesterkin was placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

Spencer Martin relieved Quick and stopped 11 of 12 shots.

Batherson tapped the rebound of a Cozens shot into the open net during a power play 2:18 into the game. Jensen then took a shot from the left point that deflected in off New York defenseman Braden Schneider.

Tkachuk finished off a 2-on-1 with Cozens with 4:59 left in the first following a giveaway by New York defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov for a 3-0 lead. Cozens easily scored from the middle of the slot in the final seconds to end the opening period.

--Field Level Media