Penguins/NHL
Game 6: Senators 2 – Penguins 1
Penguins – Senators is now coming down to a Game 7 Thursday night in Pittsburgh for a trip to the Stanley Cup Final.
Few probably saw that coming after Sunday afternoon.
The Ottawa Senators looked dead in the water after Game 5 with the Penguins delivering a 7-0 beat down and gaining steam.
Craig Anderson, though, lived up to his reputation tonight of being a hit or miss goaltender and turned in a big time performance with 45 saves to force a Game 7.
Game 6 shouldn’t be over analyzed.
Ottawa got great goaltending and were opportunistic when the occasion arose. It was the perfect script for a team that has little margin for error.
0 for their last 29 chances on the power play, the Senators trailing 1-0 and lucky to not be down 2-0 on a disallowed Trevor Daley goal, get a 5-on-3 situation and Bobby Ryan delivers to tie the game at 1-1.
Ottawa then came out blazing in the first couple minutes of the third period.
Pittsburgh did not handle the Senators aggressive push at the drop of the third period, Scott Wilson goes chasing a hit as the Senators get through the neutral zone freely and Mike Hoffman buries a slap shot glove side past Matt Murray to make it 2-1.
As Craig Anderson was sensational, the Senators got results during one of the only surges they had in carrying the play for a small stretch and come out forcing a Game 7.
A lot of credit has to go to Ottawa, notably Anderson for the mental toughness not to break after the debacle of Game 5 and after Pittsburgh got the first goal of the game tonight.
— While Sidney Crosby was getting mugged all game, he still had 6 shots on goal and a positive sign for the Penguins going into Thursday night is that their stars were going well again tonight.
Evgeni Malkin was unstoppable and at his best in using his size and strength to outmuscle players for pucks. He had a goal, 7 shots and also went 72% (13-5) on faceoffs.
Both stars, though, left chances out there as Crosby, Malkin and Phil Kessel combined for 37% of the Penguins 46 shots on goal.
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