Mike Condon has been great for the Ottawa Senators since coming over as insurance against lengthy Craig Anderson absences, but Tuesday night against the Rangers Nick Holden proved to be his Kyrptonite.
Spotted a 2-0 lead early on, Condon allowed a goal to Holden from a bad angle to let the Rangers back in the game, and then Holden scored the game winner in the third on a wraparound from behind the goal line.
Ottawa took a 3-1 lead into the second period, after Cody Ceci and Mark Borowiecki each scored their first goals of the season and Zack Smith notched his eighth of the season before he left with an upper body injury.
From there, it was Antti Raanta and the goalposts that paved the way for the Rangers' 4-3 win. Derek Stepan scored twice in the second, one on the power play and the other just moments after a power play had expired, to send the game to the third all even. Ottawa had numerous chances to equal the score, but couldn't beat the New York backup that was pressed into duty due to the illness of Henrik Lundqvist.
So Ottawa out-shot and arguably out-chanced the Rangers, but couldn't get the job done. I don't think there is cause for concern, but the winning streak was stopped at 4 and they missed a chance to put some distance between themselves and those behind them in the standings.
Condon needs to have a bounce-back game on Thursday, because despite the fact that he has appeared in 12 straight games (11 starts and 1 relief appearance) there is no confident backup right now, barring a return of Craig Anderson, who might not be an option having not seen any action since December 5th.