OTTAWA -- Derek Stepan felt like he shed a huge weight Saturday afternoon. Authentic Basketball Jerseys . The New York Rangers centre had a goal and two assists in a 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senators ending a 13-game goal-scoring drought. Stepans last goal was Dec. 20th. "Its a big relief," admitted Stepan. "I dont know for whatever reason throughout the year you go through these little dips and gullys and you have to find a way to just get through it. Its like the old saying of getting a monkey off your back." While the goal will definitely help Stepan feel better about his game, he said picking up the two assists were just as important. "It definitely helps with confidence," said Stepan. "Confidence is a tricky thing in this sport. When you seem to find a little bit of it you have to try and build off that momentum." Winners of five of their last six and holding a playoff spot have the Rangers feeling good about their game and they want to continue to improve. "Weve been talking about it as a group that points for the rest of the year are huge," said Stepan. "This one was no different." Brad Richards, Rick Nash and Mats Zuccarello also scored for the Rangers (26-21-3). Cam Talbot was solid in goal stopping 27 shots for his 10th win of the season. Marc Methot scored the lone goal for Ottawa (21-19-9) as Craig Anderson stopped 26 shots. The loss put an end to the Senators eight-game (6-0-2) point streak. Ottawa is 1-4-2 on home ice when having to play midday. This one was no different. The last time the Senators won at home in the afternoon was Nov. 9 against the Florida Panthers, which also happens to be the last time they held a playoff spot. "I dont know what it is," said Clarke MacArthur. "To even talk about it is just an excuse. We have to be ready. The other teams come in here ready at two so we have to find a way to be better." Giveaways proved to be extremely costly for Ottawa as the Rangers scored twice on two terrible ones. "It happens to all of us once in a while," said Marc Methot of the giveaways. "Unfortunately it happened a few times (Saturday)." Zuccarello took advantage of a giveaway by Chris Phillips near centre ice and broke in alone on Anderson. He caught Anderson out of position to make it 4-1 New York late in the third. While the Senators were managing to hold on during the game despite their sluggish play a late goal in the second proved to be the back breaker. With 11.5 seconds remaining Erik Karlsson went to pass the puck back behind his own net but put it directly on Stepans stick. Stepan beat Anderson shortside to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead and disappoint the 19,978 on hand at Canadian Tire Centre. "It was a momentum swing for sure," said Ottawas coach Paul MacLean of giving up the late goal. "Instead of getting out of the period down one, youre down two. It gives momentum to the other team going into the room and now you have to work even harder coming out of the room to start the period to get something going." MacLean said he didnt feel any need to talk to Karlsson as a mistake that blatant is sure to have an effect on any player. Earlier in the period Nash picked up his 12th of the season, as he broke in alone on Anderson and roofed the puck high. "It was a great play by Stepan," said Nash. "The puck rolled on me a bit, but youll take them any way you can get them." Ottawa had gotten off to a decent start with Methot scoring his fourth, tying a career high, to take a 1-0 lead, but midway through the period the Rangers tied it with a power-play goal. With a two-man advantage Stepan made a cross-crease pass to Richards who went high on a kneeling Anderson. "We started the game well and set ourselves up for a good hockey game," said Karlsson. "We just couldnt pull through for 60 minutes. We were a little bit too sloppy with the puck making plays." Saturdays game marked the first of three meetings between the two teams this season. Ottawa had claimed five straight overall against New York in the regular-season series, including the last three in Ottawa. Notes: D Patrick Wiercioch, D Joe Corvo and LW Matt Kassian were a healthy scratch for the Senators. RW Chris Neil returned to the lineup after missing the last six games with a lower-body injury. ... D Justin Falk was a healthy scratch for the Rangers. Fake Basketball Jerseys China . He learned about pressure and expectations at the 2010 Games in his hometown of Vancouver. His next mission is to build on that experience at his next Olympic appearance in Sochi, where he plans to ride the momentum from the teams strong start to the season. Cheap Basketball Jerseys . 5 Trade Deadline is drawing closer and teams will be deciding on whether to buy or sell while figuring out which players can make the biggest difference and hold the greatest value. https://www.fakebasketballjerseys.com/ . The 90-plus minutes of play are about trends and approach.MINNEAPOLIS -- It wasnt always pretty, but considering the position theyve put themselves in this year, the Tampa Bay Rays cant be too picky. James Loney had two hits and two RBIs and Chris Archer won consecutive decisions for the first time this season as the Rays won their fifth straight with a 5-3 victory against the Minnesota Twins on Sunday. At one point this season it appeared the Rays might have dug too deep a hole to recover. On June 10 they were 24-42, but since that low-water mark theyve gone 23-11 and pulled to within eight games of first place in the AL East. "Were just trying to concentrate on the moment and not thinking that far ahead," Loney said. "And were not thinking about what we did yesterday." The Rays, who went on an 11-4 tear going into the All-Star break, matched their longest winning streak of the season against the punchless Twins, who scored six runs in the three-game series. But they didnt make it easy on themselves Sunday. They committed two errors, both leading to Minnesota runs. They also gave the Twins a run on a wild pitch. And on offence, they stranded 12 runners, including nine in scoring position. "We had so many opportunities to score many more runs and when you keep not doing that you get kind of concerned," manager Joe Maddon said. "When you leave that many guys in scoring position you know its going to bite you at some point." Archer (6-5) pitched 6 1-3 innings, giving up one earned run on six hits while walking two and striking out four. Four relievers combined to get the last eight outs, with rookie Kirby Yates closing out the game for his first career save. Yates had to bail out Grant Balfour, who walked two batters with one out in the ninth. The first batter he faced was Brian Dozier, who took part in the home run derby at Target Field last Monday. But with the winning run at the plate, Yates got Dozier on a grounder to third and retired Eduardo Nunez on a pop out. "Kirby came in, did a nice job against Dozier who can definitely put the ball in the seats, and same thing with Nunez. I thought he was ouutstanding," said Maddon, who noted that veteran set-up man Joel Peralta was unavailable due to an illness. Basketball Jerseys For Sale. But he added that getting his young relievers some experience in high-leverage spots is part of his master plan. "We have to grow our bullpen to permit people to not have to pitch so often," Maddon said. "Weve got to get participation from 25 players, including some who are still in Triple-A, if were going to pull this off." Kevin Correia (5-12) took over the major league lead in losses, allowing four runs on seven hits and three walks in four innings for Minnesota. The veteran right-hander gave up two runs in the first and single runs in each of the next two innings. In his previous seven starts, Correia was 3-4 but had a sparkling 2.30 ERA in 43 innings pitched. Instead, Correia got off to a shaky start on Sunday and never recovered. Desmond Jennings led off the game with a double, and Correia walked the next two batters to load the bases. Loney delivered two runs with a sharp single to give the Rays a lead. "You all saw it, 90 pitches in four innings and it was a hard 90, not an easy 90," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said of Correias outing. "He laboured through it and kept the damage to a minimum. But he laboured through it." Notes: Evan Longorias second double of the game gave him 216 in his career, passing Carl Crawford for the most in franchise history. He also tied Crawford for the franchise lead with 592 career RBIs. . Twins 1B Joe Mauer swung a bat on Sunday for the first time since he went on the 15-day DL on July 2 with a strained right oblique. Twins GM Terry Ryan said that Mauer didnt face pitching or hit off a tee, but the "dry swings" were a sign that "things are going in the right direction." ... Ryan also said he would wait until Monday to announce the Twins starting pitcher for Tuesdays game against Cleveland. RHP Samuel Deduno, who has made eight starts this season for the Twins, pitched three innings of relief on Sunday and is not a candidate to start on Tuesday. ' ' '