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New York received a lengthy 5-on-3 after Nick Foligno was sent off for goaltender interference -- replays showed two Rangers players guiding him into Lundqvist -- and Richards took advantage of the extra space by skating off the wall and beating Anderson high at 17:08.
"I'm not sure about (Foligno's) call, it's a bit of a tough call to put a team down 5-on-3 in a real tight series," Spezza said. "We haven't seen one of those yet, either way and they get a lot of momentum from that and we give them the late goal."
That was soon followed by a back-breaking goal from Kreider, the first of his NHL career. He sneaked a shot through Anderson with 40.3 seconds to play in the period to make it 3-1.
Ottawa successfully staged a number of dramatic comebacks during the regular season -- they also erased a two-goal deficit while winning Game 4 -- and had plenty of opportunities to mount another one here. But Lundqvist held the Senators at bay on two power plays, denying Kyle Turris point blank and having a Chris Phillips shot ring off the post.
The Sens managed to squeeze one puck over the goal-line in the final minute, with Spezza getting credit at 19:21 after a long video review.
The last Game 7 at the Garden was in the NBA. The Knicks lost 97-95 to Reggie Miller and the Indiana Pacers in the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals. The last time the Rangers hosted a Game 7 was 1994, when they beat Vancouver to win their first Stanley Cup in 54 years.
After six games, there has been very little to choose between teams that were separated by 10 wins and 17 points through the regular season. But the Senators have one more chance to pull off the upset, needing only one more victory at Madison Square Garden, where they are a combined 4-1 this year.
"When you win in a building, it definitely gives you a little bit of confidence," Spezza said. "But we know it's going to be a battle -- both teams are playing for their lives and nobody wants to go home. Seventh games are special. It's going to be intense."
NOTES: Turris briefly left the game in the first period after a blocking a shot, but returned ... Swedish forward Jakob Silfverberg made his NHL debut for the Senators ... New York's Brian Boyle didn't make the trip after suffering a concussion on a hit from Neil in Game 5 ... Two of Alfredsson's sons, Loui and Hugo, were on the ice with Sens flags when the team came out at the start of the game ... Former Senators Igor Kravchuk and Shaun Van Allen were among the announced crowd of 20,500.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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