Rangers beat Senators in shootout, victory streak at 8

Call him the unlikeliest of heroes.

Defenseman Dan Boyle, 39, told by coach Alain Vigneault two weeks ago that he needs to limit his ice time because of his age (and unhappy with the notion), literally made a point in his hometown on Saturday.

In his fourth game after being a healthy scratch for games on Nov. 3 and Nov. 6, Boyle scored the shootout winner against Senators goaltender Craig Anderson. That gave the Rangers a 2-1 win, their eighth consecutive victory and a 13-2-2 record. Their total of 28 points tied the 1971-72 team for the best 17-game start in franchise history.

"You never know if that extra point down the road is going to be a factor," said Boyle, who took shootouts regularly with San Jose before signing a two-year contract with the Rangers in the summer of 2014. He recently said he needs to get his confidence back, and his high wrister might have given him some.

"I've been known to deke a little bit more," Boyle said, "but I kept my head up and had some net."

In a wild, back-and-forth three-on-three overtime with no whistles, Ottawa's Mike Hoffman hit the post twice and Rick Nash once.

In the shootout, Bobby Ryan beat Henrik Lundqvist through the five-hole and Anderson stopped Nash in the first round. Lundqvist, who made 22 saves, swatted away Kyle Turris' try and Mats Zuccarello tied it with a forehander over Anderson's glove. Lundqvist then stopped Mika Zibanejad before Boyle won it.

Chris Kreider and Ottawa's Erik Karlsson exchanged power-play goals in the first period.

Near the left post, Kreider tipped Kevin Hayes' shot off his shin and past Anderson at 2:31. It was the fourth power-play goal in five games for the Rangers and the 12th time in 17 games that the Blueshirts had scored first.

After the officials missed an offside on the Senators, Jesper Fast was whistled for hooking and the Senators responded. Ryan McDonagh fell in the offensive zone while reaching behind him for Derek Stepan's poor pass and the Senators charged up ice with numbers. Karlsson easily beat Lundqvist after tic-tac-toe passing from Zibanejad and Ryan at 6:33.

Things tightened up in the second period after the free-wheeling first, when the teams totaled 21 shots.

"We felt like if we just leave this up to just trading chances with them, you never know where it's going," Lundqvist said. "I think we're good enough to trust ourselves to play our game. We played a smarter game after the first.

"In overtime, I don't know what to think about it. I hope that people enjoyed it at least. It's weird hockey. They [the skaters] have so much time to wait [out the goalies], so you just hope for the best."

In what could have been disastrous for the Rangers, Zack Smith skated by and clipped Stepan in the jaw at 15:37 of the second, and Kreider dropped the gloves and went after Smith. The officials gave Kreider a two-minute minor for instigating, five for fighting and a 10-minute misconduct penalty. Smith received five minutes for the fight and two for interference. Stepan did not play the rest of the period but returned to play in the third.

The Rangers, now boasting a 12-game point streak (10-0-2), survived on Boyle's first goal of the season in his 14th game.

Unlikely? You bet.