JESSICA BOPP – OVATHLETICS.COM
The first round of the Eastern Conference Playoffs began as the Pittsburgh Penguins took on the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night.
Evgeni Malkin put the Pens on the board first just a little over three minutes into the first period. His power play goal from Sergei Gonchar and Sidney Crosby blew past Senator goalie Brian Elliott.
Then, about five minutes later, Ottawa rookie Pete Regin scored from Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson, tying the game at one.
However, before the first period was over, the Senators took the lead when Chris Neil’s shot to the glove side of Fleury went in the net.
Just over a minute into the second, Chris Kelly gave the Senators a 3-1 while on the power play. The goal was thanks to a fluky bounce that allowed him to shot into the empty net as Fleury was caught our of the goal crease behind the net.
But Malkin scored on the power play—again—from Gonchar and Crosby—again.
Yet, when rookie Erik Karlsson scored for the Senators from Mike Fisher and Matt Cullen on the power play, Ottawa restored their two-point lead.
Early in the third period, Craig Adams scored from Pascal Dupuis and Maxime Talbot. Adams’ last regular season goal was scored on December 1, 2008, 111 games ago. However, he did score three goals in the playoffs during the Penguins’ quest for the Stanley Cup.
Ex-Penguin Jarkko Ruutu was the third member of the third line to score when he beat Fleury to the short side, giving the Senators a 5-3 lead.
With less than three minutes left in the game Alex Goligoski scored from Crosby and Malkin. The Pens were within one, but were unable to tie the game with such little time left.
The Ottawa Senators beat the Penguins 5-4 in Game 1.
Game 2 of the first round in the Eastern Conference playoffs occurred on Friday evening.
The night didn’t start out well when Jason Spezza skated along the boards with the puck and set up Regin for a goal just 18 seconds into the game. It was Regin’s second goal in two games. Alfredsson also assisted.
A little over eight minutes later, though, Sidney Crosby scored his first postseason goal from Chris Kunitz. He backhanded a shot off of Kunitz’s rebound into the net to tie the game.
Near the end of the period, Penguin defenseman Jordan Leopold was knocked to the ice when he was elbowed by Ottawa’s Andy Sutton. Leopold was down for the count for a couple minutes and then was helped off the ice. He did not return and his status is day-to-day. Sutton did not receive a penalty—or a suspension—much to the dismay of Penguins fans and Leopold’s teammates, especially Crosby who charged at him afterwards. But Maxime Talbot was also enraged and picked a fight with Zack Smith. Both received five for fighting at the end of the period.
The second period saw no goals, but a whole bunch of hard hits.
The third period started out slow, but gained a ton of momentum as time ticked down.
During the second half of the period, it looked as though Ottawa was going to take the lead when Anton Volchenkov took a shot on net. Marc-Andre Fleury missed the shot, but Crosby—the multitalented Penguins Captain—slid on his stomach and stretched out his stick, blocking the puck from crossing the line with only a few inches to spare.
Shortly after that, Crosby was responsible for setting up Kris Letang for the game-winning goal with just 4:12 left in the game. He skated back and forth behind the net to make an opening and found Kris Letang at the right point. Letang fired a shot on net and the puck went in past Brian Elliott. It was Letang’s first goal since January 21 and his fifth over the last two postseasons. Guerin also assisted.
The Penguins tied the series at one with their 2-1 win over the Senators on Friday night.
Game 3 was played on Sunday evening in Ottawa and the Penguins were first on the board.
When Alexei Ponikarovsky scored just 1:17 into the first period, Ottawa fans quickly fell silent, experiencing a very similar situation that Pens fans felt the game before when Regin scored just 18 seconds in. Pascal Dupuis and Sergei Gonchar assisted on Ponikarovsky’s nice wrist shot.
The Senators thought they had tied the game with 40.8 seconds left in the period but it was ruled that the puck had been kicked in by Peter Regin.
The second period, however, began with a Senator’s goal. Mike Fisher’s power play goal from Regin and Matt Cullen tied the game at one.
But shortly thereafter, Evgeni Malkin put the Pens back in the lead. He fired a shot to the net after picking up the loose puck and put it past Brian Elliott. Talbot got the only assist on the goal.
Sidney Crosby extended Pittsburgh’s lead while on the power play with just 44.4 seconds left in the period. He shot the puck over Elliott to give the Pens a 3-1 lead. Matt Cooke and Bill Guerin assisted.
In the beginning of the third period, Bill Guerin scored on a breakaway to give the Pens a three-goal cushion.
Matt Cullen attempted to get the Senator’s back in the game with his power play goal at 12:58, but it wasn’t enough.
The Pens beat the Senators 4-2 and are now winning the series 2-1.
