Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis celebrates a short-handed goal against the Ottawa Senators in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinal Tuesday night in Pittsburgh. (Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press)
When you have talent like Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jarome Iginla, James Neal, Chris Kunitz, Brenden Morrow and Kris Letang to throw out there on two power-play units, there are going to be goals scored.
"They have one of the best power plays in the playoffs," said Ottawa first-liner Cory Conacher, who may have been the best Senator on Tuesday. "You want to play hard and you want to play physical. But we don't want to give them these opportunities."
With the exception of a few players like captain Daniel Alfredsson and tough-guy Chris Neil, as well as veteran defencemen Sergei Gonchar and Chris Phillips, Ottawa has a young team. The Senators exhibited maturity beyond their years in their opening-round five-game series win against the rival Montreal Canadiens.
Jittery Senators
They were jittery in the first few shifts. Kyle Turris took a high-sticking penalty on Dupuis just 72 seconds into the game, and 1:29 later Penguins defenceman Paul Martin ripped a point shot that deflected off Ottawa blue-liner Jared Cowen.
The Senators responded for a tying goal from Colin Greening, a softy that Penguins goalie Tomas Vokoun allowed. But the young Senators defence pairing of Cowen and Eric Gryba, who left the game after a hard second-period hit from Pittsburgh's Brooks Orpik, got in trouble later in the opening period in their own end. Kunitz found Malkin in front for the go-ahead goal and the Penguins never looked back.
Now the Senators have to learn from their mistakes. The biggest area for improvement will be team speed. The Senators have to find another gear to move the puck up the ice better and also to get in on the forecheck and make life more difficult for the Penguins' defence.
Pens D had easy night
The Pittsburgh defencemen had an easy night making those stretch passes to their forwards. In the first round, the Islanders gave the Penguins fits at times with their speed and work ethic. They made the Penguins play too much in their own end. The Senators need to find another gear to do the same.
"They were a bit quicker than us in the first," MacLean said. "In the second, it was much better to our liking and didn't get enough out of it
"We need to be harder and a little bit quicker. We have the ability to do that. Now it's up to us to make it a series."
Tim Wharnsby
Tim's worked the sports beat at The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Sun, specializing in Canada's one true sporting obsession - hockey. He knows the players, the coaches, the backroom boys and most importantly, the fans. That's what he brings to his stories. Knowledge, fairness and understanding are trademarks of a Wharnsby story. That's what you will get here as he writes for CBCSports.ca.
