The Ottawa Senator lose 5th straight to the Pittsburgh Penguins. The game was well played by both teams. The Senators suffered another heart breaking late third period goal.
First Period
The first period featured one goal. Unfortunately the goal was not for the Ottawa Senators. Evgeni Malkin scored the first goal of the game at the 4:17 mark. After serving his 2 minute roughing minor, Malkin exploded out of the penalty box and scored. Some rough play was had in the first period. Zack Sill was assessed a game misconduct for a high hit on Kyle Turris. Alex Chiasson and Sill fought briefly after the hit. It is unclear if Sill will face disciplinary action from the league. Sill certainly delivered a huge hit to Turris but it appeared to be clean. Sill hit him hard in the chest, he didn’t target his head with an elbow, or do anything extremely vicious. It will be interesting to see what happens. The Penguins outshot the Senators 13-6 in the period, and entered the second period leading 1-0.
Second Period
The Senators tied the game early in the second period. David Legwand scored a power play goal which was assisted by Milan Michalek and Erik Karlsson. The Senators then took a 2-1 lead when Mika Zibanejad scored at the 8:44 mark. Zibanejad’s goal was assisted by Bobby Ryan and Marc Methot. Methot picked up his first point of the year. The Penguins tied the game up late in the 2nd period. Erik Condra took a hooking penalty against Rob Klinkhammer at the 17:47 mark. On the resulting power play Evgeni Malking scored his second goal of the game off assists from Brandon Sutter and Olli Maatta. The Senators had a decent period. The Senators outshot the Penguins 14-12 and entered the third period tied.
Third Period
The Senators suffered late period heart break in the third. The shots for the third period were 9 to 8 with the advantage going to the Penguins. The one extra shot the Penguins had found the back of the net. The events leading up to the goal were caused by an unfortunate bounce. Milan Michalek’s attempted to clear the puck. His clearing attempt hit a referee and stayed in the zone. The puck not leaving the zone lead to a possession on the stick of Sidney Crosby’s. Crosby set up Christian Ehrhoff, who faked a shot cause Craig Anderson to go down, then ripped a laser shot which found the top corner of the net. The goal was scored at the 18:10 mark of the third period. The Senators could not tie the game up and end up losing 3-2.
Notes and Observations
- Jared Cowen was scratched from the line up. It is not the first time the young defenseman has been scratched this year. There was a stretch in October where Cowen was a healthy scratch for five games.
- The Senators were once again outshot by their opponents. It is a disturbing trend that has been prevalent all season. It does not matter how great your goaltending is when you fail to score more points than your opponent.
- Ottawa needs to turn the tables if they want to make the playoffs. The start of the season saw them ride hot goaltending to victories. Without a surge in offensive production the Senators are doomed. You simply cannot expect to win games when you are outshot every time you play.
The Senators host the Vancouver Canucks tomorrow night at 7:00 PM EST.