Pens score late for 1-0 win
Series even at 1 after Senators fail to beat Fleury.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 23 shots for his second shutout of the playoffs and the Pittsburgh Penguins evened their Eastern Conference final against Ottawa with a 1-0 victory in Game 2 on Monday night.
Phil Kessel beat Craig Anderson with a wrist shot 13:05 into the third period as Pittsburgh finally broke through against the Ottawa’s packed-in defense.
The Penguins dominated play for long stretches but couldn’t solve Anderson until late. Kessel’s initial shot hit Ottawa’s Jean-Gabriel Pageau and came right back to him. Kessel fired hard and low by Anderson for his sixth goal of the playoffs.
Anderson finished with 28 saves but received little help in front of him. The Senators went nearly 19 minutes without putting a shot on Fleury. When they eventually got going late, Fleury was up to the task.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan challenged his team to stop searching for the perfect shot and just fire the pick at Anderson instead, after Pittsburgh struggled to create any traffic in front of the goaltender during a 2-1 overtime loss in Game 1.
The defending Stanley Cup champions responded, even though they spent most of the game without forward Bryan Rust and defenseman Justin Schultz, who left in the first period with injuries.
Rust was on the losing end of a clean check by Ottawa’s Dion Phaneuf 4:58 into the game. Rust slowly made his way to the bench but did not return.
Schultz, who has become Pittsburgh’s most important defenseman with Kris Letang and Trevor Daley out, slid awkwardly into the end boards after getting bumped off the puck by Senators forward Mike Hoffman midway through the first. Schultz walked down the runway to the training room and never made it back.
Ducks-Predators: Game 3 tonight in Nashville may be testy after Predators center Ryan Johansen vented his frustration at how Ducks center Ryan Kesler plays. His words to reporters came after the Ducks rallied twice in pulling out a 5-3 win Sunday night that tied the series at 1.
Johansen said he didn’t know how anyone could cheer for a player who constant prods and pokes with his stick: “I’m just trying to go out there and play hockey, and it stinks when you’ve got to pull a stick out of your groin every shift.”
“That’s playoffs written all over it,” Predators forward Colton Sissons said Monday. “Obviously there’s some bad blood there, and they’ve been competing hard and battling all series. It’s only going to get escalated from here.”