Senators force a seventh
OTTAWA — Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators rebounded nicely two days after a blowout loss put them on the brink of elimination from the Stanley Cup playoffs.
Anderson stopped 45 shots, Mike Hoffman scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and the Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Tuesday night to force a decisive Game 7 in the Eastern Conference finals.
The 36-year-old Anderson was coming off a pair of rough outings, including Sunday when he was given the hook after yielding four goals in Ottawa’s 7-0 loss at Pittsburgh.
“You can’t change what happens in the past,” said Anderson, who has credited work with a sports psychologist early in his career for helping him manage the mental side of the game.
“From that moment on you have to look forward and get ready for the next one.”
Hoffman fired a slap shot through traffic off a pass from Fredrik Claesson to put the Senators ahead at 1:34 of the third. Bobby Ryan also scored for Ottawa.
It was quite a response after the drubbing in the previous game.
“I think the biggest message for us was if somebody told us back in training camp in September that we’d have an opportunity to win Game 6 in the Eastern Conference final at home in front of our fans we would’ve taken it,” Ryan said.
“So let’s not dwell, let’s not kick ourselves and put our heads down. Let’s embrace this opportunity to extend this for two more days together and go from there.”
Evgeni Malkin gave Pittsburgh, vying for its second straight trip to the Stanley Cup final, the lead early in the second period and Matt Murray finished with 28 saves.
“I thought we played a real good game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.
“I thought we dominated zonetime.Wehadlotsofchances, but the puck didn’t go in the net. If we continue to play the game that way, then I believe we’ll get the result.”
Game7isonThursdaynight in Pittsburgh, with the winner advancing to face the Nashville Predators in the championship round.
“I think Anderson was the reason that they got this one, he played big for them,” Murray said. “But in our room we just focus on what we need to do. We played really well, we just didn’t get the bounces and weren’t able to put one home.”
Anderson’s performance was a reminder for Senators coach Guy Boucher of why he took the job last May.
“I’ll be honest with you, if I didn’t have a No 1 goalie, I didn’t want the job,” Boucher said. “It’s like a quarterback in football and a pitcher in baseball — and we have it.”