Sunday, April 25, 2010

Senators have long summer to think about collapse

By Wayne Scanlan, The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/sports/index.html
April 25, 2010



Jesse Winchester #18 and Nick Foligno #71 look on while the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate their series victory at the end of Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Quaterfinals during the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals at Scotiabank Place on April 24, 2010 in Ottawa, Canada. The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators 4-3 in overtime winning the series four games to two.
Photograph by: Phillip MacCallum, Getty Images


Even the long playoff series, when they end, end swiftly.

Without notice. The roller-coaster season of the Ottawa Senators ended with a sudden, horrific plunge -- a blown three-goal lead against the defending Stanley Cup champions from Pittsburgh.

And still, fans who appreciated the Senators push back from being down 3-1 in the series, stayed and applauded the team as the Senators raised their sticks in salute. A spontaneous chant broke out, in honour of the captain: “Al-fie! Al-fie!” Later, Daniel Alfredsson admitted he has been playing with a torn abdominal muscle for weeks, and may need surgery in the off-season.

Yes, that season is already underway.

But oh, what might have been.

Instead of a Game 7 in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the Senators will think all summer about the opportunity they had on home ice in Game 6.

“It’s so disappointing,” said assistant captain Chris Phillips. “One goal away from being in a Game 7.

“Not too many people believed we could do it. But the guys in our room believed -- we gave it all we had.” The Penguins were down 3-0 -- were you booking your flight to Pittsburgh Senator Fan? -- but rallied with one goal in the second period and two in the third to force overtime.

On a pass from Jordan Staal from behind the net, Pascal beat Pascal -- Pascal Dupuis ripped a high shot over the glove hand of goaltender Pascal Leclaire, 9:56 into the first overtime.

A Bill Guerin goal on the power play seven minutes into the third period had pulled the visitors to within one.

Alfredsson would say later the Penguins “got us back on our heels in the third period, especially after they scored that power play goal.

“We couldn’t get the momentum back,” Alfredsson said. “Even in overtime.

“In these elimination games, you can’t afford to lose momentum for long stretches . . . we did, and we’re done.” The Senators managed to keep Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin from scoring goals, but it wasn’t enough.

Along with ending the Senators season, the Penguins carry the distinction of five straight playoff wins on Ottawa ice, including their playoff sweep of the Senators in 2008.

It took a while for the Cup champs to get their act together, but when they did, they kept testing Ottawa’s conservative strategy, outshooting the Senators 18-4 in the third period.

“We went after them,” Crosby said, “even in OT.” Crosby had promised the result would come if Pittsburgh played the right way.
They got the result that most of the 20,122 fans at Scotiabank Place were dreading, after celebrating and taunting Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury for most of the evening.

Matt Cooke’s goal with 7:36 left in the third period created overtime for the second consecutive game.

To paraphrase Ilya Bryzgalov at the Olympics, the Senators charged from the opening faceoff “like gorillas out of a cage.” But unlike their overzealous behaviour in Game 4, when they took 15 penalties and forgot about playing the puck, this was more of a classic Ottawa game -- all hail to the system. A Chris Neil goal put the home team up by two.

The Penguins, as has been their pattern, stood up for the anthem but were otherwise slow to rise to the occasion. They may have still been reeling from losing that 107-minute marathon in Game 5.
The Sens were clearly living off the fumes of Matt Carkner’s pinball shot at 7:06 of the third extra period in Pittsburgh.

Last night, by the time Pittsburgh realized the game was on, Ottawa owned a 10-3 shot advantage. And the Senators neatly turned the tables on all those familiar Penguin odd-man rushes.

Matt Cullen might have been the most surprised in the building to find himself skating in alone on a breakaway just past the five minute mark, sprung by an Alfredsson pass. Cullen ripped a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury to the top corner, stick side.

Centre Mike Fisher had spoken about the importance of carrying some of that Game 5 overtime momentum into the first period, suggesting his team needed to “get the first goal and never look back.” Call them guilty of glancing over their shoulders, because the Penguins came on after Ottawa’s goal, coming so close to scoring that video review staff spent minutes examining a Michael Rupp shot to determine if it crossed the line before Leclaire could flick it out with his left pad.

The finding: inconclusive. And some 20,000 spectators gave a collective “Pheww!!” Win some, lose some. In the second period, the Senators had a goal called back when a video review -- the fifth in two games -- showed the net was off its moorings when a Fisher shot crossed the line during a wild scramble around Fleury.

Still, Ottawa carried a 3-0 lead to the midpoint of regulation, when Cooke -- known more for delivering flying elbows than scoring goals -- got the Penguins started, backhanding a shot past a sprawling Leclaire, the first of two from Cooke.

In defeat, the Senators took some solace in character shown.

In victory, the Penguins were gracious. “They gave us a hell of a run,” Guerin said.

Maybe. But for the Senators, it’s another short run.

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