It might not go on the highlight reel, but Lias Andersson will take it.
The Rangers rookie forward got his first goal of the season and the second of his career when he crashed the net and got a rebound to go in off his backside, helping his team to a 4-2 win over the Senators on Monday night at the Garden.
“I don’t care. A goal’s a goal,” said Andersson, taken with the No. 7-overall pick in the 2017 draft but who started the season with AHL Hartford and played in his 11th game since being called up Nov. 5. “Definitely not the prettiest one, but I’ll still take it.”
Andersson has mostly played as the fourth-line center, getting limited ice time and therefore limited offensive chances. But going to the crease as Ryan Strome shot the puck led to good things.
“I just try to play my game every night, try to work hard,” Andersson said. “Being on the fourth line with two guys, trying to work hard each game and do as much as we can with the minutes we get. It’s fun to score, but just going to keep working.”
Rangers coach David Quinn has not been surprised by the terrific rookie season of Brady Tkachuk, as the two were together last year at Boston University before Quinn left his head-coaching post to take over behind the Rangers bench and Tkachuk became the No. 4-overall pick to Ottawa.
It likely didn’t surprise him either that Tkachuk was in the middle of a couple melees during the game, including when he confronted Brendan Smith after a big hit late in the first period and then when he was called for roughing after skating by Tony DeAngelo and giving him a little business to the face.
Tkachuk also had two assists, one being a slick pass on Mark Stone’s six-on-five goal with 2:43 remaining in regulation, giving the 20-year-old seven goals and six assists in his first 13 NHL games.
“He’s going to be a big-time player in our league,” Quinn said. “Everybody talks about his size and his strength and his determination, but he’s got a lot of skill, too.”
Bit of a scary moment late in the game when Vlad Namestnikov was slammed into by Senators defenseman Thomas Chabot. Namestnikov struggled to get to the bench, and eventually left for the locker room with just 10.9 seconds remaining in regulation. But from Quinn’s postgame remarks, it doesn’t seem too serious.
“When I went to the locker room, he was talking,” Quinn said, “so that was progress.”
The Rangers were without Mats Zuccarello for the eighth time in the past 10 games as he suffered a setback with his right-groin injury.
“Just didn’t respond the way we anticipated,” Quinn said.
That kept Tim Gettinger in the lineup for the second straight game after his back-and-forth trip to Hartford on Saturday and Sunday.
Defenseman Freddy Claesson was a healthy scratch as DeAngelo returned after sitting out on Saturday.