NEW YORK -Chris Kelly scored all three goals for Ottawa, including the tiebreaking tally late in the third period of the Senators' 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday night.
Kelly snapped a 1-1 tie off a feed from Jarkko Ruutu in front of the right post. The center flipped the puck over goalie Henrik Lundqvist's right shoulder with 2:24 remaining. Kelly completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal in the final second of the game.
Kelly, who doubled his season goal total to six, gave Ottawa a 1-0 lead in the second period with a short-handed score.
Pascal Leclaire made 25 saves for his second win of the season (2-6-1) for Ottawa, which won for just the third time in 11 games. The struggling Senators (12-14-2) had been shut out in their previous two games at home.
Brandon Prust scored a short-handed goal for the Rangers (16-12-1), who lost for only the third time in nine games. New York was 0 for 4 on the power play in the first meeting this season between the teams.
Lundqvist finished with 22 saves.
Kelly put the Senators ahead 4:27 into the second after Rangers forward Derek Stepan couldn't keep the puck in the Senators zone. The 30-year-old center stole the puck and skated in alone on Lundqvist, beating him with a wrist shot from the left circle as Jesse Winchester served a penalty for tripping New York defenseman Steve Eminger.
It was the first goal in 202 minutes, 57 seconds for the Senators, who lost 1-0 in a shootout against Buffalo on Saturday night and 4-0 to San Jose on Thursday. Ottawa's previous goal was scored by Nick Foligno at 6:30 of the first period of a 4-1 home loss to Edmonton on Monday.
Prust got the Rangers even at 10:50 of the second, beating Leclaire with a wrist shot from the left circle on a 2-on-1 break with defenseman Marc Staal. It was the Prust's third goal of the season and his second in three games. It was also New York's sixth short-handed goal this season.
Notes: The Rangers wore their dark blue 85th anniversary "Heritage Jerseys" for the second time. They debuted in a 3-2 home loss to Boston on Nov. 17. The teams will conclude this home-and-home series in Ottawa on in the second half of the home-and-home series on Thursday. ... The game marked the return of two-time Rangers forward Alexei Kovalev, the last remaining active member of the New York's 1994 Stanley Cup-champion team. The 37-year-old Kovalev recorded his 1,000th career point with a goal against Los Angeles on Nov. 22. ... Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson is the longest serving NHL captain. He is in his 11th season at the helm after being appointed in October 1999.
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