When the Penguins went down by three goals to the Ottawa Senators at the Canadian Tire Centre last night, I found myself thinking strange thoughts.
Maybe it’ll be good for ’em to lose one, I reasoned. Get it out of their system before the playoffs begin.
The Penguins didn’t agree. Sparked by a typically grimy Patric Hornqvist tally and two-goal efforts from Sidney Crosby and Carl Hagelin, the never-say-die Pens struck for five-straight goals to stun the Senators 5-3. The victory—the club’s seventh in a row and 13th in 14 games—solidified its grip on second place in the Metropolitan Division.
Following strong starts against the Predators, Islanders and Flyers, the black and gold fell flat in the opening period against the hustling Sens. When sharpshooting Mike Hoffman and rugged Zack Smith beat goalie Matt Murray early in the second frame to make the score 3-0, it appeared our boys would once again fail to find the on-switch against a lesser foe.
Appearances, of course, can deceive.
Murray stiffened. Then Hornqvist—playing to the whistle in his customary hell-bent style—popped a loose puck over the outstretched pad of Sens goalie Andrew Hammond at 7:47 of the period.
Suddenly…game on. Five minutes before the second intermission Crosby swept a made-to-order deflection off the skate of Norris Trophy hopeful Erik Karlsson past Hammond to pull the Pens within one.
Hagelin knotted the score early in the third period. Bursting into the slot to take a pretty pass from Nick Bonino, No. 62 ripped off a shot and followed up his own rebound to cash in. But overlapping minors to Oskar Sundqvist and Eric Fehr put the Pens down by two men for 1:32 and threatened to short-circuit the comeback.
Fortunately, Murray and his mates stood tall. While the rangy rookie made four saves during the lengthy 5-on-3, penalty-killers Ian Cole and Bonino blocked three shots.
Buoyed by the supreme shorthanded effort, the Pens closed in for the kill. Hagelin struck again at 14:03, circling the zone like a shark targeting its prey before gathering in a Bonino feed and beating Hammond with a backhander inside the far post. Crosby took a cross-ice pass from Kris Letang in the closing seconds and zipped the puck into an empty net to finish the Sens off. It was Sid’s team-leading 35th goal of the season—eighth-best in the league.
While disappointed with the sluggish start, coach Mike Sullivan praised his troops afterward.
“When we get down three goals, that’s a tough climb,” he said. “I loved the resilience our guys showed to crawl back into it one goal at a time. Part of the identity of this group here moving forward is they’ve showed themselves that regardless of how the game goes, especially early on, if we get down in games, we have the ability to come back.”
Sheary Hurt
Conor Sheary, one of the Pens’ most noticeable players last night, left the game early after being struck in the face by a stick blade on an errant follow-through.
No word yet on the exact nature or severity of the injury.
In 42 games with the Pens this season, Sheary has six goals and three assists.
