Senators force Game 7 with 2-1 win over Penguins

The Ottawa Senators may not have sold out Game 6 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night, but it didn’t stop them from getting their business done. Mike Hoffman scored a clutch goal in the third period as the Senators forced a deciding Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Final with a 2-1 victory at Canadian Tire Centre.

It’s been a rough few days for Senators fans, who had to hear the discussion about the team’s inability to sell out the biggest game of the season with their team a loss away from elimination.

Instead of the focus being on Erik Karlsson and company’s quest to force one last game in Pittsburgh, the biggest narrative was how their fans failed to sell out the arena. Owner Eugene Melnyk called it “very disturbing.” It’s become a complicated subject many Sens fans would rather not delve into during their moment in the sun.

But for the vast majority who showed up Tuesday night, they were given a performance worthy of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Senators may have been outplayed for large swaths of the game, but as they have all postseason, they battled. And in the end, that was enough to beat the Penguins — a team that Ottawa coach Guy Boucher has admitted are better — because if these Senators have shown anything, it’s that they won’t make anything easy for anyone.

To be clear, this was not the grand, dominant performance of a team making a big statement. The Senators were hardly the better team in Game 6. The Penguins had far more shot attempts (75-46), scoring chances (39-16), and shots on goal (46-30), per Natural Stat Trick.

But the Senators got a beneficial call on the goalie interference penalty in the first period, hung on during the Penguins’ butt-kicking of a second period with a late goal from Bobby Ryan, the surprise playoff hero, then turned the tables in the next 20 minutes. It’s clear in retrospect that if Pittsburgh was going to put away this series, it needed to do so in the second period.

That’s when the Pens were dominating with a 23-10 shot advantage that should’ve yielded more goals. Craig Anderson was amazing, though, which is the biggest reason that Pittsburgh didn’t score more than once. Anderson finished the win with 45 saves on 46 shots as part of a heroic effort that deserves great praise.

In the third period, the Senators were the ones to assert themselves with more shots and a game-winning goal from Hoffman before the Penguins’ desperation attempt began. It was like much of Ottawa’s postseason — not pretty, not overwhelming, but enough to win.

Now we’re set for a Game 7 between the Senators and Penguins on Thursday at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. It may not have come in front of a packed crowd in Ottawa, but the game often had that intensity. Now, even if the NHL may not be thrilled about the TV market possibilities, we’re a game away from a potential Nashville-Ottawa Stanley Cup Final.