‘Legendary game’ puts Sens up 2-0
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scores his 4th goal of game in double-OT as Ottawa wins 6-5
OTTAWA — Too much chicken parmesan left Jean-Gabriel Pageau feeling a little full before Saturday’s matinee against the New York Rangers.
It didn’t matter. The 24-year-old put together a “legendary game” at Canadian Tire Centre by scoring a career-high four goals, including the 6-5 double-overtime winner. The victory gave Ottawa a 2-0 series lead in the playoffs for only the second time in team history and first since the 2007 Eastern Conference final against Buffalo.
“I think I closed my eyes when I shot and thankfully it went in,” Pageau, an Ottawa native, said of the winner. “I was on a cloud and it’s a moment I’ll never forget.”
Not only did Pageau end Game 2, he made sure it got to overtime in the first place by scoring twice in the final four minutes of regulation to knot the score at five. Both goals saw him tip shots past Henrik Lundqvist — the first from Zack Smith with just over three minutes left, the second from Kyle Turris with 62 seconds on the clock.
He then came streaking in with rookie defenceman Ben Harpur with less than three minutes left in the second OT and beat Lundqvist glove-side.
“I thought his quota was full,” captain Erik Karlsson said when asked if Pageau was his pick for the winner.
Unlike Game 1, which saw Ottawa dominate for long stretches before prevailing late on a goal from Karlsson, Saturday’s was a sloppy affair from the home side.
Power-play troubles, in particular, nearly spelled their doom. The Rangers finished with more short-handed goals (two) than the Senators had shots (zero) with the man advantage — Ottawa getting nothing at Lundqvist with three consecutive power plays in the first 10 minutes.
The Sens never died though, despite the Rangers continually turning one-goal leads into two. Mark Stone cut the deficit to 4-3 in the opening minutes of the third, but less than four minutes later, Brady Skjei scored the second of his two goals to increase the margin once more.
“We couldn’t find our game the way that we wanted to find it,” Sens defenceman Dion Phaneuf said. “But we came in between periods and said, ‘Let’s keep going. Let’s keep pushing.”’
Seeing that it was an “ugly day,” head coach Guy Boucher said “ugly goals” were required and the two by Pageau late in regulation fit that description. Both saw the pesky former fourth-round pick poking his nose around the New York crease.
“That last deflection I don’t even know how he did that,” Lundqvist said. “The way he angled the stick, he didn’t even know he hit the net I think.”
Pageau, who played a career high of almost 29 minutes, said he was actually quite tired just before his double OT winner rolled around. It’s why he was able to get the extra break out of the defensive zone for the odd-man rush which ended the game.
Though he scored a playoff hattrick against Montreal in 2013 and chips in with modest offence — 12 goals and 33 points in the regular season — the 5-10, 180-pound Pageau has ultimately built his career by agitating opposing top lines.
“I knew from playing against him he was a pain in the butt,” said Phaneuf, who joined the Sens last season from Toronto. “He’s not the biggest guy, but I’m telling you, he competes.”
“It’s just great to see him get rewarded: four-goal game, overtime winner. It’s just a legendary game.”
It wasn’t all good news for the Senators, with Clarke MacArthur exiting midway through with an injury. It wasn’t clear if the issue was related to persistent concussion problems, but the 32-year-old did take a big hit from Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh late in the first period.
PENGUINS 6, CAPITALS 2
WASHINGTON (AP) — Phil Kessel scored twice, Sidney Crosby set up more goals and the Pittsburgh Penguins chased Braden Holtby on the way to a 6-2 victory over the Washington Capitals in Game 2 Saturday night that gave them a commanding 2-0 lead in their second-round series.
Marc-Andre Fleury was brilliant again in stopping 34 shots for Pittsburgh, which also got two goals from Jake Guentzel, one into an empty net, Matt Cullen and Evgeni Malkin. The Penguins scored three goals on 14 shots on Holtby, who was pulled in favour of Philipp Grubauer after the second period. Grubauer didn’t fare much better, allowing two goals on nine shots.
Matt Niskanen and Nicklas Backstrom scored for the Capitals, who outshot the Penguins 36-23 but still came up short on the scoreboard.