Senators Chill Penguins 2-1, Force Game 7

Hockey is a game of inches. That saying was especially true during the Senators’ 2-1 triumph over our Penguins in Game Six last night, which knotted the Eastern Conference Final at 3-3 and set up a deciding Game Seven in the ‘Burgh on Thursday.

Pens goalie Matt Murray missed closing off the far post by inches, enabling Bobby Ryan to beat him for a momentum-swaying 5-on-3 goal. The Pens narrowly missed beating Craig Anderson on numerous occasions, most notably on a Scott Wilson drive that skimmed off the goalie’s right pad and clipped the post with three minutes left in the first period.

You get the picture. A fortuitous bounce here and there, and we’d be prepping for a Stanley Cup Final clash with Nashville, instead of facing potential elimination.

That’s the way the ol’ puck bounces. Sometimes you get ‘em, sometimes you don’t.

Personally, I thought we had this one. Following a fairly even start, the ice began to tilt in the Pens’ favor. At the top of his game, postseason scoring leader Evgeni Malkin looked as though he’d carry us to victory.

“Geno” nearly did, too, striking for the game-opening goal at 4:51 of the second period. Refusing to be denied, the big center fought through a Zack Smith check in the corner, bulled his way past the Sens’ forward to the side of the net and fired point-blank on Anderson. The veteran goalie made the initial save, but was helpless to stop Malkin’s deft forehand-to-backhand follow-up.

This after the Pens had been jobbed out of an apparent goal only moments earlier, when Trevor Daley beat Anderson with an unconscious effort from a goal-mouth scramble. Ottawa coach Guy Boucher issued a challenge, contending Daley had interfered with his netminder. Showing an unflinching ability to make the wrong call—especially concerning our Pens—the refs disallowed the goal following a video review.

“Nothing we can do about it,” Daley said afterward. “I thought he was squirming in the net. I didn’t think I really pushed him in. I thought he was back in there already. But I didn’t get to call it. It wasn’t my call.”

Still, the Pens appeared to be rolling until a pair of unfortunate penalties to defensemen Ron Hainsey and Ian Cole left them two-men short just past the midway point. Ryan capitalized to knot the score at 1-1 and give his team some much-needed traction.

Credit Anderson, too. Forty-eight hours after being chased from the net, he rebounded in heroic fashion to stop 45 of 46 shots. With 22 saves, the Illinois native was especially tough in the second period, when the Pens dominated play. In particular, his glove save on Sidney Crosby near the eight-minute mark kept the Sens from going down by a pair.

Catching the locals in the midst of a line change early in the third period, Ottawa took full advantage. Defenseman Fredrik Claesson drove the net and laid a beautiful drop pass onto the waiting stick of Mike Hoffman. With Claesson and Hainsey providing a screen in front, Hoffman beat Murray with a booming slap shot high to the stick side.

The goal took the starch out of the black and gold, while inspiring the home team to greater efforts. While his teammates circled the wagons, Anderson made 12 saves over the final 20 minutes to nail down the victory and earn the game’s third star.

“Obviously, we’re disappointed in the result, but I don’t think we can get discouraged by that,” said Pens coach Mike Sullivan. “I think we’ve got to take the positives from it, and we’ve got to build on it, and we’ve got to become a more determined team for Game Seven.”

Crosby echoed his skipper’s sentiments.

“We played a good game,” Sid said. “It happens sometimes in the playoffs. We’ve got to regroup but we did a lot of good things. We probably deserved better tonight.”

Puckpourri

The Penguins dominated a number of statistical categories, including shot attempts (75-46), shots on goal (46-30) and faceoffs (48-34). Malkin won 72 percent of his draws; Crosby won 61 percent.

The Sens held an edge in hits (34-29) and blocked shots (17-8).

Murray made 28 saves in a losing effort. Since returning to the net in Game Three, “Muzz” has stopped 96 of 101 shots for a sparkling .950 save percentage.

Cole and Wilson assisted on Malkin’s goal. Brian Dumoulin (24:15) led the Pens in ice time. The fourth line of Josh Archibald, Matt Cullen and Carl Hagelin combined for 24:03 of ice time.