Senators’ GM, Bryan Murray, vowed his team would give the Penguins a different game after their 6-3 defeat on November 25th. While he may have been talking about a more physically tough type of game, Murray will gladly take a 6-4 victory over Pittsburgh as sweet revenge. The Senators scored five times in the second period and Jason Spezza contributed four points as the Senators handed the Penguins their fourth loss in five games.
In their last meeting, both teams faced a scrappy game in the story centered around Nick Foligno and Sidney Crosby battling in front of the net. Foligno had crashed into Marc-Andre Fleury and the Penguins’ captain took exception, cross-checking Foligno a few times before receiving a few shoves back. Crosby flung an elbow which hit Foligno in the head which enraged Bryan Murray.
“We didn’t have Neil and Carkner play in the game. We didn’t have enough toughness, so when we play Pittsburgh that’s something you can bring up to me again.”
In tonight’s game, the Senators did dress Neil and Carkner and they did bring toughness along with highly skilled offensive play.
After a relatively uneventful first period, both teams experienced an offensive explosion in the second leading to eight total goals. The Senators opened the scoring 25 seconds in when Colin Greening tipped in a centering pass from Jason Spezza. The Penguins quickly countered on the next shift, getting the equalizer from Steve Sullivan who wristed a shot over the right blocker of Alex Auld. Just as the Penguins finished celebrating, Jason Spezza blasted a one timer past Brent Johnson to regain the lead for Ottawa. The Sens extended their lead four minutes later when Daniel Alfredsson scored five-hole.
With the Penguins down 3-1, their struggling powerplay finally awakened.
Matt Niskanen’s slapshot found its way past Auld, who was screen by Chris Kunitz, and the Penguins drew within one. Seven seconds later, Chris Neil took a hooking penalty and the Penguins tied the game 3-3 on a wrist shot from Evgeni Malkin. It was the first time since November 11th that the Penguins scored more than one powerplay goal in a game.
Any momentum gained, however, was short-lived as the Senators scored back to back goals before the end of the period. The Sens retook the lead after a blind shot from Jared Cowan bounced off of Brooks Orpik’s leg and into the net. With under ten seconds remaining in the second, the Senators scored on a powerplay goal thanks to a redirect from Zenon Konopka in front. Konopka’s goal marked the fifth goal for the Senators and the eighth goal of the second period.
Dan Bylsma replaced Brent Johnson (after allowing 5 goals on 19 shots) with Marc-Andre Fleury to start the third period but, in the end, it didn’t matter. Daniel Alfredsson saucered a pass to Jason Spezza who buried a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury for his fourth point of the night. The Penguins did have several opportunities to get back into the game, but each attempt was thwarted by bad luck and timely play by the Senators. Early in the third, Chris Kunitz was denied a partial breakaway when goaltender Alex Auld came out of his crease to play the puck. Auld collided with his own teammate and the puck found its way to Evgeni Malkin. Unfortunately, Malkin’s hard wrist shot was blocked by Matt Carkner and the puck deflected harmlessly to the boards.
The Penguins scored with just over a minute remaining off of a Chris Kunitz tip-in but the game was already out of reach. With tonight’s loss, the Penguins are now 1-4 in their last five games. While the powerplay did register a few timely goals, the defense gave backup goaltender Brent Johnson zero help. For the fifth straight game, the Penguins allowed three goals or more which directly affects their torrid play, as of late. With their league-leading 19th road game completed, the Penguins will return home to face Buffalo tomorrow night at 7pm.
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