OTTAWA – Ray Emery made 24 saves and the Ottawa Senators overcame the absence of three top defensemen to beat the New York Rangers 4-1 on Thursday night.

The Eastern Conference-leading Senators played without defensive partners Zdeno Chara (hand) and Chris Phillips (knee), and Wade Redden missed the game to travel to Saskatchewan on Thursday to be with his ailing mother.

Chris Neil, Patrick Eaves, Dany Heatley and Peter Schaefer scored for the Senators.

Fedor Tyutin had the lone goal for the Rangers, and Henrik Lundqvist made 28 saves.

Jaromir Jagr, who had four assists Wednesday night in a 5-1 road victory over the New York Islanders to break John Ratelle’s franchise scoring record, assisted on Tyutin’s goal to push his NHL-leading scoring total to 114. Jagr also has an NHL-leading 52 goals, tied with Adam Graves for the team record.

With the loss, the Rangers remained four points ahead of second-place Philadelphia in the Atlantic Division race. The division winner is in position to get the No. 3 seed in the conference and the loser is expected to open against Buffalo in the 4-5 series.

Neil scored his 16th goal of the season on a two-man advantage early in the first period, and Eaves made it 2-0 with his 16th on another two-man advantage at the 13-minute mark. New York countered less than a minute later on Tyutin’s backhander.

Heatley added his 43rd goal of the season on another power play in the second, and Schaefer scored his 19th in the third.

Notes: The Senators also were without RW Martin Havlat (shoulder, out until April 10) C Mike Fisher (ankle, out indefinitely) and G Dominik Hasek (adductor muscle, out indefinitely). Defenseman Brad Norton was recalled from Binghamton … New York was without LW Martin Rucinsky (broken finger, out four weeks), while LW Marcel Hossa and C Alexandre Giroux were healthy scratches.

AP-ES-03-30-06 2227EST