PENS TOP SENS TO PUNCH TICKET TO SECOND STRAIGHT FINAL.
PITTSBURGH • It was the longest playoff run in a decade for the Ottawa Senators but the end came far too quickly Thursday night.
They played with heart and lost a heartbreaker.
The Senators were unable to win the first Game 7 in franchise history as Chris Kunitz scored his second of the game and that was the winner in double- OT to give the defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins handed Ottawa a 3-2 loss to capture the Prince of Wales Trophy with a 4-3 series victory in the Eastern Conference final.
Instead of hosting Game 1 of the Cup final Monday night at home, the Senators will head to the the Canadian Tire Centre on the weekend to pack their bags after the most successful season in recent history that included playoff wins over the Boston Bruins and New York Rangers before being halted by the Penguins.
This was a great game in every way, shape and form. You really had to wonder if it was ever going to end as both goalies came up big. Kunitz beat Craig Anderson high to send the crowd into hysterics at 5:09 of the second overtime.
While Ryan Dzingel and Mark Stone were able to beat Matt Murray in regulation, only Justin Schultz Anderson for the Penguins. Both goalies were brilliant and had to come up with big stops as they two teams pushed hard to determine which one would move on.
The Senators refused to back down. After Schultz gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead with only 8:16 left in the third on the power play, Dzingel tied it up when he picked up a rebound off the post and beat Murray at 14:41 to tie it up. Dzingel did a great job getting his stick on the puck for his second of the playoffs.
Ottawa has had to battle the odds all year. They lost winger Clarke MacArthur for most of the season to a concussion in camp while Anderson took a two-month personal leave to be with his wife Nicholle while she under treatment for a rare form of cancer. Always, they have found a way to persevere.
Coach Guy Boucher wanted the players to enjoy the challenge.
“We’re here right now,” said Boucher before the game. “It’s May 25, 2017, and I just can’t feel more privileged to be with the players that we’ve got right now, the special group of players and the people in the organization. That’s my only focus.”
He wasn’t going to deliver a big speech, either.
“I don’t think it’s a day of special messages. It’s more a day reminding yourself how and why you got here and making sure that’s what your focus is,” Boucher added. “You don’t want to have a focus on doing something new and extraordinary that’s just going to get us out of our identity us out of our strengths.”
Through 40 minutes, the Penguins and Senators went toe-to-toe and the scores tied 1-1 as Ottawa was outshot 1512. The Senators had their second power play of the game late in the period but they couldn’t get anything going. The two teams exchanged goals during a flurry midway through the second.
Only 20 seconds after Kunitz opened the scoring for the Penguins, the Senators answered back when Stone scored his fifth of the playoffs to tie it up 1-1. He beat Murray on the glove side from the circle and though many felt the Penguins should challenge for offside replays confirmed that it wasn’t.
Only moments earlier, the place had gone wild when Kunitz took a pass from Conor Sheary on a 2-on-1 and beat Anderson on the stick side at 9:55. The Senators had been on their heels big time in the period and had been relying on Anderson to keep the Penguins from taking control.
Through 20 minutes, the Senators and Penguins played to a scoreles tie. Pittsburgh was ahead on the shot clock 6- 5. Neither team had much in the way of great chances but Murray and Anderson made the stops when needed. The Senators were able to look at this as a successful road period because Pittsburgh didn’t dominate.
The best stop Anderson made was on Jake Guentzel on a redirect in front while Murray a good save on Clarke MacArthur while the Senators missed on a power play.
The object for the Senators was to slow down the Penguins at the start and try not to give up much in the way of opportunities. The two teams went a stretch of 7: 53 without a stoppage in play as both tried to establish themselves. There wasn’t a whole lot in the way of scoring chances, however, it was entertaining.
“We have to play to our structure,” Phaneuf said before the game. “People can call it boring or whatever they want.”
There was nothing dull or boring about this night.