The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 4-3 on Friday night to take a 2-0 lead in their Eastern Conference Semifinal series. As beat writer Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette points out, the Pens have now pinned Ottawa firmly against the ropes:
The Sens struggled through a challenging regular season, where injuries took a serious toll. Two personnel losses were especially tough. Jason Spezza played just five games before suffering a back injury that required surgery, while Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Erik Karlsson was in his 14th game when his Achilles tendon was 70 percent severed by the skate of Matt Cooke.
On the strength of great goaltending from Craig Anderson and better-than-expected play from a cast of young guns straight from the Binghamton farm team, the Senators exceeded expectations by battling to a seventh-place finish in the Eastern Conference, then demolished the Montreal Canadiens in their first-round series.
Ottawa is Canada's last remaining playoff representative, and even Prime Minister Stephen Harper is on the bandwagon:
However, after two games in ...
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Article written by Carol Schram
Pittsburgh vs. Ottawa: Has Senators’ Magic Finally Run out Against Penguins?
May 17th, 2013 by Carol Schram Leave a reply »
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