It ain't broke, so the Rangers will be starting the same lineup for Game 2 against the Ottawa Senators as they look to take a 2-0 series lead Saturday night at the Garden. Ottawa coach Paul MacLean, on the other hand, would only say on Saturday morning that there were no Sens lineup changes "at this time." While the Senators talked about improvements they must make to even the series, Blueshirts veteran forward Ruslan Fedotenko said it's important for the top-seeded Rangers to remember how quickly momentum can turn the other way. "In the playoffs it can change game-to-game and it can change shift-by-shift, so you need to play well but forget what's happened in the past," said Fedotenko, a two-time Stanley Cup winner with the Lightning (2004) and Penguins ('09). "Learn from your mistakes and adjust what you need to adjust, but it's what you can do the next chance you have." "All's I know is we're going to have to be better," coach John Tortorella said, knowing the Senators have had success against New York this season and finished Game 1 with two third-period goals to narrow the final deficit to 4-2. "The goals we gave up are goals that normally we don't," said Senators All-Star defenseman Erik Karlsson, who was bottled up for no points in Ottawa's Game 1 defeat. "We've got to be better defensively and not give pucks away like we did last game." "We have to be more the aggressor," said Ottawa center Jason Spezza, who finished fourth in the NHL this regular season with 84 points and had a late assist in Game 1. "When we push the pace, we're a good hockey club." Sens coach Paul MacLean was asked if the experience of Game 1 would help some of his younger players adapt to the playoffs, including several that won the AHL's Calder Cup last season with the Binghamton Senators. That group included current Ottawa starters Kaspars Daugavins, Zack Smith, Erik Condra, Jim O'Brien, Colin Greening and Jared Cowen. "Well we thought the experience they had in Binghamton would help them, and it didn't," MacLean said. "We'd like to score some goals. The first one would be nice." Ottawa's Nick Foligno said it wasn't just as simple as the Senators improving their game, though, since the Rangers demonstrated in Game 1 the same strength they displayed through an 82-game regular season to grab the No. 1 seed in the East. "What makes them so good (is) they play the same way night in and night out," Foligno said. THE FLYERS DID WHAT? The consensus in the locker rooms at the Garden was that Philadelphia's 8-5 win over the Penguins on Friday night – to take a 2-0 lead in their four-five series heading back to the city of Brotherly Love – wasn't exactly what one expects out of playoff hockey. Two Flyers had hat tricks, rookie Sean Couturier and Claude Giroux, while Giroux became just the fourth NHL player ever to record at least six points in a playoff game. Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Patrik Sundstrom are the only others to have done it. Of course, John Tortorella had opinion on any of the action in the other series. "I don't watch any other games," Tortorella said. "I spend enough time watching us." KREIDS'LL USE HIS EYES Chris Kreider will be scratched for a second straight game, and the 20-year-old will continue to observe Carl Hagelin and evaluate how he fits into the Rangers' system so he's prepared when his name is called. Kreider said he's not only watching how Hagelin pursues the puck, but how he does so at the correct pace so as not to slow down a rush or put his teammates in bad spots. "In college, I wasn't too good at timing the rush," Kreider said. "A lot of times I wouldn't end up moving as much and just kind of trying to support. I was thinking too much and not skating enough, I think. I was overthinking a bit and not just opening her up and going." Kreider is a powerful skater, but he said it's important for him to see how – at NHL speeds – he must decide in a split-second whether he must get behind the defense or swing up top with the puck before entering. He'll want those decisions to be second-nature and not have to think on the ice to be effective in game action. Have a question about the Blueshirts or a comment? Find Pat on Twitter at @NYDNRangers.
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