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April 19, 2010 3:26 PM
Chris Kunitz, 14, Jay McKee, 74, and Evgeni Malkin, 71, celebrate the fourth goal as a shocked looking Nick Foligno skates by in the third period as the Ottawa Senators would lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4 - 2, in game 3 of the NHL's Eastern Conference first round playoff match up at Scotiabank Place.Photograph by: Wayne Cuddington, The Ottawa Citizen
"Home is a shelter from storms — all sorts of storms."
— William J. Bennett
The Senators came home from the Igloo, but couldn’t find shelter from a Pittsburgh storm.
With a convincing 4-2 victory, the Penguins spoiled the party for a capacity crowd of 20,119 at Scotiabank Place. The Penguins lead the quarterfinal series 2-1, with Game 4 here on Tuesday.
“We’ll bounce back,” vowed Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson, clearly physically laboring but battling. A Sidney Crosby hit sent him to the dressing room favoring his shoulder, but Alfredsson quipped it was just to “get a pep talk about keeping my head up.”
The Senators were excited about coming home after a split of the first two games in Pittsburgh. And why not. The Sens have been, as the old joke goes about the Buffalo Sabres coach, Ruff at home and Lindy on the road this season. With a record of 26-11-4 in their friendly confines, Ottawa was third best in east on home ice behind only the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils.
Expectant fans had two years to prepare for this moment, having had last year’s playoff season off to rest. And it was these same Penguins who swept an injury-ravaged Senators lineup in April of 2008, so the so-called “red army” had motive and opportunity.
And they took no prisoners, booing Senators centre Jason Spezza every time he turned the puck over, lost it, or missed a teammate with a pass. He was charged with four giveaways.
“Always a tough crowd,” Spezza said afterward about the hecklers, “but there’s not much I can do about it. Just keep playing.”
It was the Penguins who expected a storm of emotion from the Senators, feeding off their fans.
“The first 10 minutes are going to be pretty ramped up,” predicted Pittsburgh head coach Dan Bylsma.
Well, the first minute, anyway.
Until a Pittsburgh goal by former Toronto Maple Leaf Alexei Ponikorovsky sucked the life out of the building. It came just one minute, 17 seconds into the game, on the first shot putting a quick damper on playoff fever.
Fans were advised by the organization to be “All in. All red.” So go figure they were handed white towels to wave. Looks better on TV, though, all that white cotton flapping in the bright lights.
Of course, the origin of all hockey’s playoff towel waving stems from a former Senators assistant coach, the late Roger Neilson, who raised a white trainer’s towel as a mock flag of surrender to officials during a playoff series between Neilson’s Vancouver Canucks and the Chicago Blackhawks.
By the end of the second period last night, white flags of surrender didn’t seem like a bad idea, after Crosby had again worked his magic to push Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-1.
As if the dagger didn’t cut deeply enough, him beating Andy Sutton in the corner, gliding out front, delaying, delaying and shooting it into an open net -- but it came with 44 seconds left in the period. And so cut deeper.
The Senators had those towels waving in celebration in the final minute of the first period, when it appeared Peter Regin, Ottawa’s best player, had tied the game 1-1, the puck sliding between goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury’s pads off Regin’s skate. Upon further review, however, it was ruled that Regin had directed the puck with a kicking motion and the goal was called off.
A Mike Fisher power play goal, from a beautiful Regin centering pass, did tie the game, but goals by Evgeni Malkin and Crosby put the visitors ahead to stay.
The Malkin goal was a killer. For about a minute, the Senators blitzed the Penguins zone, missed a couple of outstanding chances, then watched hopelessly as Max Talbot beat rookie defenceman Erik Karlsson to the puck and made a play to Malkin for the tap-in goal.
“They got a break there, that was a tough one for sure,” said Senators centre Mike Fisher. “We did a lot of good things, but they’re opportunistic. They get their chances and they bury them.”
Arriving here for Game 3, the Senators couldn’t remind us enough about having gained “home ice advantage” after winning Game 1 on the road, then losing Game 2 by a goal. Membership has its privileges. With the series a best-of-five, and three potential games in Ottawa, the Senators would retain the advantage IF they could hold serve at home.
Having the benefit of last change also meant head coach Cory Clouston could have last change, and have the line and defensive pairing matchup he wanted against Crosby.
It worked for a while, but a power play matchup of Crosby on big Ottawa defencemen Sutton and Matt Carkner was not exactly promising. Crosby took full advantage with his second goal of the series. The Kid now has seven points in three games.
Home is where the heart is, and a strong Ottawa push to open the third period fired up hopes again. A Spezza shot was about to trickle over the line -- and would’ve pulled the home team to within one -- until Fleury sprawled to direct the puck harmlessly wide of the post.
Moments later, Bill Guerin skated in on a breakaway, deked Elliott cleanly and this one was done at 4-1.
Home ice advantage can be a fleeting thing. The Penguins have it back again, and now the rally cry in the Senators room is about getting a split once again -- this time, at home.
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