The Pittsburgh Penguins were 6-0 in playoff games when both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored goals. They improved to 7-0 on Sunday, as their two stars played key roles in their 4-2 win in Ottawa.
Unlike their first two games, this time it was the Pens that struck early, as Alexei Ponikarovsky scored his first playoff goal as a Penguin just over a minute into the game, freezing Brian Elliott with a hesitation before wristing it through him. Mike Fisher would draw the Sens even with a powerplay goal in the 2nd, but Malkin and Crosby came on strong to finish the 2nd and gave the Pens a 3-1 lead to take into the 3rd.
Malkin’s goal came after some intense pressure from the Sens, as he lugged the puck up the ice, and feathered it through the defense where it was picked up and tossed on net by Max Talbot. Geno gathered the rebound and walked it around Elliott to put the Penguins back on top. With just 45 seconds to play in the period and Erik Karlsson in the box for slashing Jordan Staal’s stick, Crosby picked up the puck in the corner and carried it through two Ottawa checkers and a maze of sticks and bodies in the slot before outwaiting Elliott and flipping it into the back of the net.
Veteran Billy Guerin gave Pittsburgh some extra cushion as he edged behind the Ottawa defense and took a stretch pass from Chris Kunitz that almost got away from him. He recovered it just in time to dangle Elliott and put the Pens up, 4-1. Matt Cullen made it interesting with a powerplay goal for Ottawa with 7 minutes left, but Fleury and the Penguins’ defense wouldn’t give up anything else and sent the Ottawa faithful home disappointed.