Senators top Pens in OT

PITTSBURGH — By his own estimate, it took Ottawa’s Bobby Ryan a full 82 games to adjust to firstyear coach Guy Boucher’s system.

Consider the forward all caught up. The rest of the consistently surprising Senators, too.

Ryan broke in alone on Marc-Andre Fleury and deked the Penguins goalie before flipping a backhand into the open net 4:59 into overtime to give Ottawa a 2-1 victory Saturday night in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference finals.

“I knew at some point those pucks I’d been chasing all year long, they were going to come,” Ryan said after picking up his fifth goal of the playoffs. “You just want to redeem yourself. You let your teammates down [during the regular season]. Now I’m getting to redeem myself a little bit. That’s all I’m trying to do.”

The Senators improved to 6-1 in overtime during the postseason and took early control of the bestof-seven series against the defending Stanley Cup champions.

One game in and the Senators already have done to the Penguins what the Capitals and Blue Jackets could not: grab control of the series.

“There’s a lot of things to like but it’s just one game,” Boucher said. “We won’t get too excited.”

Ryan also assisted on Jean-Gabriel Pageau’s firstperiod goal, Craig Anderson made 27 saves and the Senators turned away five Pittsburgh power plays.

Evgeni Malkin’s goal late in the third period forced overtime, but Pittsburgh struggled to generate any consistent pressure on Anderson.

“We’re looking for that next play instead of putting pucks at the net,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said.