Hats Fly As Penguins Down Senators 6-5
Sidney Crosby notched a natural hat trick and scored his third-straight game-winning goal as he led the Pittsburgh Penguins to victory over the Ottawa Senators.
In the first game back from the All-Star Break, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby put on a show. In a veritable all-star performance of his own, Crosby scored his 18th, 19th, and 20th goals of the season and led his team to another home win.
Goalies Marc-Andre Fleury and Craig Anderson squared off against each other in a high-scoring game. However, the final score doesn’t accurately tell the tale – despite letting in six goals, Anderson faced a total of 44 shots on goal. With a combined 67 SOG, both offenses were firing on all cylinders.
That being said, so was the Penguins’ defense. The Senators couldn’t manage to get a shot off until 11:30 into the first period. By that point, they were already losing 2-0.
Those two goals came from Matt Cullen and Kris Letang.
Cullen was assisted on his goal by Carl Hagelin and Brian Dumoulin. All five of the Senators on the ice were focused on Hagelin quickly driving up the center, allowing Cullen to take his pass mostly unguarded and tap in his own rebound.
In eight of the last twelve games, the Penguins have allowed the first goal. Since they obviously struggle with comebacks, such a strong start was important. If they can maintain this kind of early offensive explosion, one of their main problems as a team will be taken care of.
This is also the second Penguins natural hat trick in a three-game span, with Evgeni Malkin achieving the feat against the Vancouver Canucks just before the break.
Letang’s goal came from a stymied Chris Kunitz breakaway. Once Anderson stopped the initial shot, Crosby captured the puck and deftly passed it to Letang, who took advantage of an empty net. Patric Hornqvist, in his usual netfront position, distracted Anderson enough for Ottawa coach Dave Cameron to challenge the goal; however, it was not determined to be goaltender interference.
Ottawa quickly answered with a goal of its own from Mark Stone, cashing in on the Senators’ third shot.
Not to be outdone, Kunitz scored a goal of his own shortly thereafter. Coming back from missing two games due to an injury sustained against the Philadelphia Flyers, he immediately made an impact as he fell back into stride on the top line beside Crosby.
To cap off a wild first period, Chris Wideman managed to score with only half a minute left to bring the Senators within one.
The Senators’ offensive resurgence didn’t end there. Taking that momentum into the second period, they came out swinging: Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored only three minutes into the period on a 4-on-4, while less than half a minute later defenseman Cody Ceci tallied one of his own.
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Captain Crosby took it into his own hands from here. Scoring three in a row, he hammered the final nail into the coffin.
With the exception of the first goal of the game, the Penguins’ big names provided all of the scoring. Crosby had 3G, 1A; Letang had 1G, 1A; Kunitz had 1G, 2A; Malkin had 2A; Phil Kessel and Hornqvist each tallied 1A. With the offensive power available, this is what the fans, team, and front office all like to see.
Despite David Dziurzynski‘s desperation goal, the Pens managed to pull out the “W” in the end.
In other notes, forward Eric Fehr was hurt on a hit from Mark Borowiecki. He appeared to fall awkwardly on his right leg and was unable to put weight on it as he immediately left the game.