By Ken Warren
The Ottawa Citizen
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/
April 23, 2013
OTTAWA, CANADA - APRIL 22: Dustin Jeffrey #17 of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrates his first period goal with teammates Brenden Morrow #10 and Pascal Dupuis #9 during an NHL game against the Ottawa Senators, at Scotiabank Place, on April 22, 2013 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Jana Chytilova/Freestyle Photography/Getty Images)
Pittsburgh Light was too much for the Ottawa Senators on Monday night.
And once again, the playoffs are anything but a sure thing for a Senators squad that has lost its ability to score.
The severely undermanned Pittsburgh Penguins — playing without (take a breath) Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Paul Martin, Kris Letang and Marc-André Fleury — dealt the Senators a crushing 3-1 defeat at Scotiabank Place.
Dustin Jeffrey and Jarome Iginla — with his third goal in three games — scored early against Senators goaltender Craig Anderson to give the Penguins their 2-0 lead. The Senators spent the rest of the night, trying, unsuccessfully, to dig themselves out of the hole.
Patrick Wiercioch’s third-period power-play goal brought the Senators within striking distance, but Tyler Kennedy — a Senators killer time and again — put the game out of reach with 2:34 remaining.
Adding insult to the back-breaking goal was the fact it was set up by none other than Matt Cooke, playing his first game against the Senators since slicing the back of Erik Karlsson’s leg in February, resulting in Achilles tendon surgery to Karlsson.
The pressure to earn a playoff spot has mounted considerably for the Senators.
With the loss, the Senators slipped behind the idle New York Rangers into eighth spot in the Eastern Conference. More significantly, the ninth-placed Winnipeg Jets defeated the Buffalo Sabres 2-1 to move within a single point of the Senators.
The Senators and Rangers have three games remaining, the Jets have two to play.
Keep in mind that the Senators will lose all tie-breaking situations if they end up finished tied on points with any of the teams, due to having fewer wins in regulation and overtime.
Monday’s results — the worst possible scenario for the Senators — sets up another night of scoreboard watching for the Senators on Tuesday as Winnipeg takes on the Washington Capitals.
The pre-game hype about the Senators exacting revenge against Cooke and the “Matt Cooke Sucks” chants from the crowd faded as the Senators were forced to play catch-up.
The shot clock read 25-15 in favour of the Senators after two periods, but that was misleading.
Most of the Senators shots against Penguins goaltender Tomas Vokoun were from the outside and there were few rebound opportunities.
The Senators had their chances on the power play, but went 0-for-5 through the first two periods, extending their man advantage slump to 0-for-16 during a five-game stretch.
Wiercioch’s goal, 7:18 into the third period, ended that and gave some life to the Senators as they pressed for the tying goal.
Kennedy’s goal ended the hope of a comeback.
MacLean, frustrated with the Senators’ inability to apply consistent pressure, shuffled his forward lines in the second period, resulting in some intriguing combinations.
Nothing worked.
Before the game, the Senators insisted their focus was in the right place — on picking up two points, not picking on Cooke — but for whatever reason, the Senators were a distracted bunch at the outset.
Even with so much star power missing from the Penguins’ lineup (the Penguins have locked up top spot in the Eastern Conference and are making sure their top players are in the best possible shape for the postseason), the Senators were prepared for a difficult game.
Jeffrey opened the scoring 6:15 into the game, finishing off a pretty passing play with Brendan Morrow and Pascal Dupuis, capitalizing on weak back-checking by the Senators.
Iginla, who now has four goals in 10 games since joining the Penguins in a trade from the Calgary Flames, padded the lead to 2-0 only 4:13 later. Inexplicably, Iginla was left all alone in front of Anderson as Cowen was making a hit behind the net and Erik Condra skated across the crease.
Condra and linemates Colin Greening and J.G. Pageau paid dearly for their inattention to detail, losing ice time. Condra played only 2:07 in the first period, 53 seconds of that while killing off an early Penguins’ power play.
The Senators outshot the Penguins 14-9 in the first period, but had few great scoring chances.
Vokoun made a trapper save off Milan Michalek on an early power play and Cory Conacher, all alone at the side of the net, fanned on a perfect set-up.
GAME FILE
CHEERS
Tomas Vokoun, Penguins. Another solid performance by the visiting goaltender, allowing just one goal. This time, Vokoun faced 35 shots, only allowing Patrick Wiercioch’s power-play goal.
JEERS
Erik Condra, Senators: It doesn’t all fall on Condra, but he slid away from Jarome Iginla in the crease before the future Hall of Famer buried the puck past Craig Anderson to give the Penguins their early 2-0 lead.
WHY THEY WON/LOST
The Senators’ start. The Senators fell asleep on a pair of plays in the opening 10:28. They were caught watching some tic-tac-toe passing on the opening goal and left Jarome Iginla uncovered at the side of the net for the second one.
COOKE HEARS IT FROM THE FANS: On his first shift, Matt Cooke was greeted with chants of “Matt Cooke Sucks” from the fans, declined a fight invitation from Chris Neil and drew a power play when Eric Gryba received an interference penalty for a relatively tame hit along the boards. It was a weak call by the officials, overly sensitive for fear of the game getting out of hand. The “Matt Cooke Sucks” chants continued throughout the game.
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