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6:30 P.M.: Penguins In Ottawa To Take On Senators In Game Three
Ottawa (Sports Network) - The Pittsburgh Penguins will try to take a lead in the best-of-seven quarterfinals when the defending Stanley Cup champions visit the Ottawa Senators for Game 3 tonight at Scotiabank Place.
The fourth-seeded Penguins, winners of the last two Eastern Conference titles, earned a split in the first two games at home. Pittsburgh was dealt a 5-4 loss in Wednesday’s opener, but rebounded with a better defensive effort in Friday’s 2-1 victory at Mellon Arena.
The Senators, who had a solid 26-11-4 record on home ice this year, will also host the fourth game of this series on Tuesday. Pittsburgh was 22-16-3 away from the Steel City during the regular season, giving the Pens the second-most road wins in the Eastern Conference.
Kris Letang was the hero for the Penguins on Friday, as he recorded the game- winning score late in regulation. Sidney Crosby added a goal and one assist for the Penguins, while Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 19-of-20 shots for the win.
Pittsburgh went ahead 2-1 with 4:12 left in regulation, as Letang's floater from the right point got by a screened Brian Elliott. The score capped 15 seconds of expert puck control from Crosby, who ultimately fought off Ottawa's Jason Spezza behind the net, skated into the right circle and dished back to Letang.
“I was trying to get to the net, but they had collapsed a lot of guys in front. The second time I tried, I saw the same thing,” said Crosby on the sequence which led to the deciding goal. “‘Tanger’ was wide open back there, and he hit a tough shot with a lot of bodies in front but somehow it got through.”
Peter Regin picked up the lone score for the Senators, while Elliott played well in defeat, making 29 stops.
“I think it was great to win the first game, but we’re not satisfied. We wanted to try and steal two here,” admitted Spezza. “Now you gotta look at the positive of going home now and seizing on that momentum.”
Fleury’s performance was promising for the Pens, as the goaltender allowed less than three goals for just the second time in his last six games dating back to the regular season. He surrendered all five markers on 26 shots in the Game 1 loss.
Pittsburgh, which beat Detroit in seven games last spring to win the Cup, is trying to become the first team to win back-to-back Stanley Cup titles since the Red Wings pulled off the repeat in 1997 and '98.
The Senators and Penguins split four games during an up-and-down season series. Pittsburgh outscored the Senators, 12-3, in its two victories while Ottawa had a combined 10-3 edge in goals in its wins.
These clubs never met in the playoffs prior to 2007, but this marks the third time in four seasons that the Pens and Sens are facing off in the postseason. Ottawa ousted the Penguins in five games during the opening round of the playoffs in 2007, but Pittsburgh exacted revenge with a sweep in the conference quarterfinals the following spring.
Penguins defenseman Jordan Leopold is questionable for tonight after getting elbowed in the head by Ottawa's Andy Sutton late in the first period. Leopold skated off the ice on his own, but did not return to the game. Sutton was not penalized on the play.
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