Pageau, Sens shine
4-goal effort finishes in OT
Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored his fourth goal of the game in the second overtime after converting twice late in regulation, lifting the Senators over the New York Rangers, 6-5, yesterday in Ottawa in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Ottawa leads the series 2-0 despite trailing by two goals after Brady Skjei’s score for New York with 14:50 left in the third. Pageau cut it to 5-4 with 3:19 left, then tied it with 1:02 remaining. Pageau scored again 2:54 into the second OT, snapping in a shot during a 2-on-1 rush alongside Tommy Wingels. Pageau is the first Senator ever with four goals in a playoff game.
Marc Methot and Mark Stone also scored for Ottawa, and Craig Anderson had 43 saves.
Skjei had two goals for New York and Michael Grabner, Chris Kreider and Derek Stepan also scored. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 28 shots.
The series heads to New York for Game 3 on Tuesday night.
Ottawa lost Clarke MacArthur to injury and won despite letting Grabner and Stepan score shorthanded. It leads a playoff series 2-0 for only the second time in team history and first since the 2007 conference finals against Buffalo. The Senators have never swept a postseason series.
After his OT score, Pageau slid into the end boards, skated to the left corner and was swarmed by teammates. Wingels stopped to scoop the puck out of the goal before joining the pile. Penguins 6, Capitals 2 — Sidney Crosby set up two goals and Pittsburgh chased goalie Braden Holtby to win Game 2 and take a commanding 2-0 lead back home against Washington in the second-round series.
Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 34 of the 36 shots he faced in his second consecutive strong performance and Phil Kessel and Jake Guentzel scored twice to put the Presidents’ Trophy winners in a historically difficult hole.
Teams that have lost the first two games of a best-of-seven series at home are 18-69 (21.7 percent) all time in the Stanley Cup playoffs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. To attempt their own comeback, the Capitals might turn back to Holtby for Game 3 tomorrow night in Pittsburgh after backup Philipp Grubauer allowed two goals on the first four shots he faced in relief.
Holtby had surrendered three goals on 14 shots before getting the hook after the second period last night. The goals by Matt Cullen (short-handed), Kessel and Guentzel weren’t all Holtby’s fault because of miscues and odd-man rushes, but the reigning Vezina Trophy winner didn’t make the timely save his team needed.