Senators draw first blood in conference final

Saturday night in at PPG Paints Arena, the plucky Ottawa Senators took a 2-1 victory on Bobby Ryan’s winning goal at 4:59 of the first extra period.

On Saturday – exactly one year since that defeat – the Penguins fell 2-1 in overtime to the Ottawa Senators in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final. And it was a lovely pass from Ryan that set up a first-period goal by Jean-Gabriel Pageau, who scored his eighth of the playoffs.

Phil Kessel beat Craig Anderson with a wrist shot 13:05 into the third period as Pittsburgh finally broke through against Ottawa’s packed-in defense.

Whew, this is going to be a blazing Eastern Conference championship series as the Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to make it back into the National Hockey League finals and defend the Stanley Cup. There is no question the Senators had the momentum in their favour Sunday, but if the Penguins win Monday, then it will swing in their direction before the series shifts back to Ottawa for Game 3 Wednesday and Game 4 Friday. Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was, at times, non-existent in Game 1, registering just two shot attempts and going 12-for-31 in the faceoff circle. For Ottawa, LW Viktor Stallberg (lower body) remained out for the second game in a while, while RW Chris Neil was scratched after playing two games in a row.

“When we traded for him, we felt very strong he was a better player than what he was in Edmonton, and he needed a change”, said Penguins GM Jim Rutherford.

It was just last season, during their Stanley Cup run, that they dropped Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final to the Tampa Bay Lightning.

According to oddsmakers at BetDSI, the Penguins are the clear favorite in Game 1, as they are getting odds of -220 to win. And when we can’t, we’ve got to hang on to the puck. Malkin’s sixth goal of the playoffs was his 19th point in 13 games.

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Despite the injuries, the Penguins did everything but score in the second period when they constantly generated quality chances in front of Anderson and controlled play in the offensive zone. The Senators went almost 19 minutes between the second and third period without recording a single shot, a testament to Pittsburgh’s ability to play keepaway on the other end of the ice. No, the Senators can’t tempt this kind of fate very often but Anderson made a huge glove stop on a deflection by Patric Hornqvist on the fifth power play of the night.

Perhaps it was a salute to the last Canadian team standing in the playoffs. Pittsburgh will need to get their offense rolling as they were held in check by Ottawa’s stingy 1-3-1 defensive formation and great goaltending from Anderson but with the strength of Pittsburgh’s special teams being a focus they know they will have to take advantage on the man advantage if they’re going to find success in this one. I think you guys can attest we’re a pretty humble group of guys. The Penguins are 1-1 in overtime. “It’s the most fun part of the game”.

“If we mismanage the puck”, Pittsburgh centre Nick Bonino said, “they’re going to make you pay”. The problem wasn’t Ottawa’s neutral zone trap created to slow teams down but a decided lack of aggression once Malkin, captain Sidney Crosby and company crossed the Senators’ blue line. Rather, the Sens just outnumbered the Pens when they tried to gain the attacking zone, with three players generally back and a fourth applying pressure, and were quick to transition the puck, with the increased support that Colin mentioned.