OTTAWA — Ben Bishop made 25 saves in his home debut with the Senators, and Ottawa beat the Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers 4-1 Thursday night.
Nick Foligno had the winning goal, and Zack Smith, Kyle Turris and Jason Spezza, with an empty-netter, also scored for the Senators (36-25-8).
The Rangers (42-17-7) grabbed a 1-0 lead on Ryan Callahan’s first-period goal, but dropped to 30-2-3 in games in which they scored first. New York, which lost 4-1 at New Jersey on Tuesday, hadn’t lost two straight in regulation since Dec. 13 and 15.
Martin Biron made 18 saves. New York, which began a stretch of three games in four days, is expected to have No. 1 goalie Henrik Lundqvist in net Friday at Chicago.
With just seven shots through two periods, the Senators rarely tested Biron, but Ottawa took advantage of a number of rebounds.
Turris scored his eighth of the season, jumping on the rebound of Daniel Alfredsson’s shot from the point to give the Senators a 3-1 lead early in the third. Spezza made it 4-1 with just over a minute remaining.
Despite being outshot 9-3 in the second, the Senators held their own against the Rangers because of the play of Bishop, who made his second with the Senators. The 25-year-old goalie made a number of big saves, including a great stop on Ruslan Fedotenko late in the period.
Bishop looked a little nervous at the start as the Rangers grabbed the lead 4:36 in. Callahan tipped a pass from Brad Richards into an open right side of the net as he caught Bishop moving.
The lead was short-lived as Smith fired in a slap shot from the top of the left circle at 5:50 for his first goal in 13 games.
With just over a minute left in the period, Foligno banged in Jim O’Brien’s rebound to give the Senators a 2-1 lead. It was Foligno’s third goal of 2012, and the first that wasn’t an empty-netter.
The Senators split the season series with the Rangers at two wins each.
NOTES: The Rangers have lost back-to-back games in regulation only three times this season. They dropped one in regulation and one in a shootout on Feb. 21 and 24. … The Senators were without G Craig Anderson (finger, indefinitely), C Peter Regin (shoulder, out for season), C Jesse Winchester (concussion, indefinitely). D Matt Carkner, RW Bobby Butler and C Zenon Konopka were healthy scratches. The Rangers were without D Michael Sauer (concussion, indefinitely) and C Brandon Dubinsky (broken nose, day-to-day). D Steve Eminger and D Jeff Woywitka were healthy scratches.
-AP