STAYIN’ ALIVE
The Senators served up another nail-biter with a come-from-behind win Tuesday over the Pittsburgh Penguins to force a seventh game in the Eastern Conference finals.
Senators put in gritty effort to claw their way back on home ice
There will be a tomorrow for the Ottawa Senators.
The Senators forced a dramatic Game 7 to decide which team will represent the Eastern Conference in the Stanley Cup final, scoring a clutch 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night to send the crowd of 18,111 — just short of a sellout — at the Canadian Tire Centre into hysterics.
Yes, the East final is going the distance.
Mike Hoffman scored the winner and goaltender Craig Anderson came up big to send the Senators — who are trying reach the Cup final for the first time since 2007 — to a seventh game Thursday night at the PPG Paints Arena. The winner will face the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup final, which gets under way Monday.
Much was made of the fact the building wasn’t full, but the crowd had lots to cheer about as Bobby Ryan also scored for the Senators on Matt Murray, who will try to secure their first Game 7 victory in franchise history — they’re 0-5 so far.
Only Evgeni Malkin was able to score for the Penguins.
Hoffman’s second goal of the series at 18:26 of the third was a blast Murray never stood a chance on as it went off the post and in to give the Senators a 2-1 advantage.
Coming off a 7-0 loss in Game 5 Sunday in Pittsburgh, Senators coach Guy Boucher appealed to the players to get back to the style that got them to this point.
“We’ve just got to be ourselves. We need to make sure we stay with what made us successful, and the minute we get away from that, there’s no game,” said Boucher before the contest.
“There’s a game when we’re at our best doing what we do with our identity, and that’s making sure we’re not giving their players the space they need to do what they do best.”
Had it not been for Anderson, the Senators wouldn’t have stood a chance going into the third.
Despite being outshot 23-10 in the second period alone and 34-19 overall, the Senators and Penguins were tied 1-1 thanks to Ottawa finally scoring with the man advantage when they needed it most.
While Anderson came up with the big saves, the Senators tied it up at 13:51 of the second with their first power play goal in 11 games to end an 0-for-29 slump.
Ryan scored with the Senators holding a two-man advantage when he fired it by Murray from the circle on the glove side and the building erupted. Malkin, one of the best players in this series, opened the scoring at 4:51 of the second when he was able to pick up his own rebound to beat Anderson with a backhand on the glove side to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
Malkin did a good job being relentless on the puck and there was no argument whether this one would count.
At 4:04 of the second, Trevor Daley had a goal called back when he stuffed the puck underneath Anderson. While the Penguins at the bench celebrating, Boucher used his challenge for goalie interference and after a lengthy review it was determined that Anderson had been pushed into the net by Daley, so the game remained scoreless.
“Daley prevented Anderson from doing his job in his crease,” the league said in a statement from the NHL’s situation room.
The Senators and Penguins were scoreless through the first period. Pittsburgh had the edge on the shot clock at 11-9, while both Anderson and Murray looked sharp. Both had the benefit shots that went off the post, but the Senators were able to dodge trouble by killing off two Pittsburgh power plays.
The Penguins did a good job moving the puck and Scott Wilson did hit the post down low on Anderson on the second manadvantage, but the Senators had to be pleased they were able to get out of both them unscathed. Ottawa gave up three power play goals in Game 5 of this series, so this must have been a boost of confidence.
This likely wasn’t the kind of start the Senators wanted in a game with the season on the line. If the plan was to make life difficult for the Penguins in the first 10 minutes, it didn’t materialize.
The Penguins had lots of early pressure in the Ottawa zone and were able to survive whatever push Ottawa was trying to muster.
“We like where we’re at right now and we’ve got an opportunity here to even the series up at home in front of our fans that are going to be passionate and loud,” said alternate captain Dion Phaneuf in the morning.
“The one thing that really sticks out for me is how our building has really amped up the energy in this last round.
“You can feel it as players, it’s contagious and it really gets your energy level up.”
The one thing that really sticks out for me is how our building has really amped up the energy in this last round.