The Ottawa Senators lost more than just two points on Thursday night.

The club also lost another one of its top players when centre Shane Pinto didn’t finish the Senators’ 4-2 loss to the New York Rangers in front of 15,533 at the Canadian Tire Centre.

Pinto left midway through the first period after taking a hit from Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad along the boards with a lower-body injury.

“I’ll know more tomorrow,” said coach Travis Green. “I’m hoping it’s not going to be too long.”

Pinto finished his shift, went to the bench, and then, after speaking with athletic therapist Dom Nicoletta, skated out during the TV timeout and tested it out. Pinto then went to the room, and that was it for the night.

“He’s a big loss,” Green told TSN’s Claire Hanna in the second period. “Pinto plays a lot of important minutes. We’re going to have to shuffle the lines a little bit, and everybody has to play a little better.”

Returning home for the first time in 19 days, only Dylan Cozens and Drake Batherson were able to beat Rangers’ goalie Igor Shesterkin, who turned in a solid effort. Both goals came on the powerplay.

Artemi Panarin scored on an empty net to record his 900th career point.

The Senators made a push in the third and pulled within a goal. Captain Brady Tkachuk’s shot took a favourable bounce off Batherson and past Shesterkin to cut the Rangers’ lead to 3-2 with 6:52 left in the game.

HOME ON THE RANGE

Back from a seven-game, 15-day road trip that saw them finish with a 4-3-0 record, the Senators were hoping to avoid the curse that often haunts teams that have been away for a lengthy period.

That wasn’t the case. The Senators were outshot 13-6 by the Rangers in the second period. Though Shesterkin had to make some good stops, he wasn’t tested enough because Ottawa was back on its heels.

“They hemmed us in pretty good,” Batherson said. “We had a couple of long shifts, and they capitalized on one of them. That’s the name of the game, the more you can hem the other teams in and get them tired, that’s usually when you get your chances.”

The Rangers pulled out to a 3-1 lead on a goal by Will Borgen at 7:24 of the second. He tipped a shot by Leevi Merilainen.

After falling behind 2-0, Cozens fired a blast by Shesterkin on the power play with 90 seconds left in the first to close the gap. The Senators needed that one because Shesterkin had already come up big.

Vladislav Gavrikov extended the lead for the Rangers at 9:45. He was allowed to skate untouched to the net from the circle and fired it by Merilainen on the glove side, a shot the goalie would like to have back.

The Rangers opened the scoring only 3:19 into the first. Zibanejad scored on an odd-man rush that Merilainen had no chance on as he blasted it home on the glove side.

BANGED UP SENATORS

Green was forced to make changes because the club already had injury issues.

Defenceman Artem Zub and centre Lars Eller both finished the game against the Habs, but both were out with undisclosed injuries. Green said both were day-to-day, but there is no timetable for their return.

The club had Dennis Gilbert on the blue line for the first time since he was acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers last month. Centre Stephen Halliday was recalled from the club’s American Hockey League affiliate to replace Eller, and winger Nick Cousins returned in place of Kurtis MacDermid.

Losing Zub is a big hit because he plays a lot of valuable minutes with Jake Sanderson. All three pairings were changed as a result of Zub’s absence, and Jordan Spence skated with Sanderson. Plus, the club is without Thomas Chabot for another 10 days.

“I definitely think we did a lot of good things to get the win, but sometimes that’s just how it goes,” said Tkachuk. “We can take a lot of positives, the lessons we can learn from, and be better.”

TOUGH START

The decision to start Merilainen wasn’t a surprise. The schedule is heavy, and he needs to play. This was his seventh appearance this season, and he had only faced the Rangers one other time in his career.

That was on Jan. 21 last season, when he gave up goals on 14 shots in a 5-0 loss at Madison Square Garden. Merilainen was pulled 25 minutes into the game, and Anton Forsberg finished the game.

Ten minutes into this game, it wasn’t looking good for Merilainen. He had given up two goals on three shots, and though the club had made defensive errors, goaltending was the difference.

Shesterkin had made the necessary stops, and the Senators were struggling to get one.

bgarrioch@postmedia.com