Crosby lifts Penguins over Senators to tie series

Apr 14, 2007, 22:20 GMT

Ottawa, ON - Sidney Crosby scored the go-ahead goal with 8:16 remaining in the third period as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators, 4-3, in Game 2 in their Eastern Conference quarterfinals series at Scotiabank Place.

The best-of-seven series is now tied 1-1 with Game 3 scheduled for Sunday in Pittsburgh.

With the contest tied at 3-3, Pittsburgh took the lead for good when Mark Recchi found Crosby just to the right of the Senators net. Recchi picked up the puck along the left wing boards and made a nice pass to the Pens' superstar, who re-directed the disc past Ottawa goaltender Ray Emery.

'It gives us a bit of momentum, but the message to us is we created more offense,' Crosby said. 'That made them work much harder to try to shut us down. You have to make sure everything is balanced, especially in the playoffs. We need to keep all four lines rolling in the same way like that.'

The Senators pulled Emery in favor of the extra attacker in the last minute of play and put on heavy pressure around the Pittsburgh net, with Marc-Andre Fleury stopping Ottawa's Mike Fisher from point blank range with 13.1 seconds remaining.

Crosby also added an assist in the game. Gary Roberts chipped in with a goal and an assist and the Pens also got tallies from Ryan Whitney and Jordan Staal.

Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson each had a goal and an assist for the Senators and Chris Kelly also lit the lamp in defeat.

Fleury was brilliant in net, stopping 34-of-37 shots, including a 12-of-13 in the third period.

Emery made 17 saves for the Senators.

The Penguins got on the scoreboard 3:01 into the opening stanza while on the power play. With Alfredsson in the penalty box serving a minor for goaltender interference, Pittsburgh maintained some good puck possession in its own zone. Gonchar's shot from the middle of the point deflected off of Whitney and past Emery to give the visitors the early advantage.

'We played a little bit tentatively as evident by them getting a goal on their first shot,' Senators head coach Bryan Murray said. 'That's hockey sometimes. You play good hockey and the other team does better. They didn't touch the puck for two periods, so we should have won the game.'

The score remained the same until midway through the second period. With the Senators putting pressure on in the Penguins' defensive zone, Spezza scored on a backhander that got passed Fleury to tie the game at 1-1.

Ottawa took the lead with 3:16 remaining in the second while skating with the man advantage. With Colby Armstrong off the ice for goaltender interference, the Senators capitalized when Dany Heatley made a nice pass to Alfredsson, who was standing on the doorstep, just to the right of Fleury and re-directed the puck past the Pittsburgh netminder to put the home team ahead 2-1.

Pittsburgh tied the contest 2:04 into the third frame. With Fisher off serving a minor for slashing, the Pens went on the offensive attack. Gonchar got off a slap shot from the point that was kicked away by Emery, but the rebound went right to Roberts, who took a quick wrister and beat Emery low to the stick side to even the contest at two apiece.

The Senators regained the lead just over four minutes later while at even strength. Kelly took a pass from Dean McAmmond and beat Fleury with a wrist shot from the middle of the slot to give the Senators a 3-2 advantage.

However, the Penguins evened the game again at 9:34 when Staal's wrister from the mid slot got by Emery low to the stick side to tie the game at 3-3.

Game Notes

The Penguins were 2-for-3 on the power play, while Ottawa finish 1-for-9 with the man advantage...Gonchar had two assist for the Pens...Ottawa defenseman Christoph Schubert left the game midway through the first period with a strained neck after colliding with Penguins' Maxime Talbot and did not return.

© 2007 The Sports Network

Game Notes

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