The Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Ottawa Senators in a thrilling game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday night.
Midnight came early for the Cinderella Senators when, at 11:52 PM, Chris Kunitz scored at 5:09 into double overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 series win. After dropping Game 6 in Ottawa, the Pens have won the Eastern Conference Final and advanced to their second straight Stanley Cup Final.
Pittsburgh Penguins
A Close Game
Kunitz opened the scoring in the second period, scoring on a give-and-go 2-on-1 with Conor Sheary. But 20 seconds later, Mark Stone tied the game with a wrister from the slot that beat netminder Matt Murray high.
Justin Schultz gave the Pens another lead on the power play with a wrist shot from the point that blew by Ottawa goalie Craig Andersen. Less than three minutes later, Ryan Dzingel tied things up, putting in a puck that bounced wildly off the post and then Murray.
The first overtime period was scoreless, but both teams had chances. The Pens outshot the Senators 8-2 and had multiple chances—including one Phil Kessel shot that seemed to be a clear goal from the overhead view (as the fans vocally pointed out), but as it turned out, the puck flew over the top of the net and never crossed the goal line.
Finally, shortly into the second overtime period, Kunitz won the series for the Pens with a one-time shot from the top of the circle off of a great Sidney Crosby feed.
“I just tried to find a soft area,” said Kunitz of the goal to Pierre McGuire. “It fluttered on net, and it found its way in.”
Pens Dominate the Stats
The refereeing was an important factor in the game. The referees failed to call multiple, blatant interference and holding calls; two of the three penalties that were called were weak at best. However, this type of refereeing was hardly unusual; the Stanley Cup playoffs are notorious for laissez-faire officiating, and this year has been no exception.
Special teams were certainly in the Pens’ favor. The Penguins were 1/1 on the power play with just 1 shot; the Senators were 0/2, with no shots on their first attempt and two shots on the second. It is also worth noting that the Pens had tremendous penalty killing in the entire series. They gave up just one power play goal on an extended 5-on-3.
The Penguins also outshot the Senators 42-29 and led in hits by a whopping margin of 44-25. Despite winning barely a third of the faceoffs for the first two periods, the Penguins dominated puck possession. By the end of the game they had won a little more than half of the total puck drops.
Stars for Sens
Andersen was easily the star of the game for Ottawa. He made 39 saves, some of which were downright theft. The Senators had little puck possession and were consistently outshot; Andersen was arguably the reason that the game went to OT.
Credit must also be given to head coach Guy Boucher. He took a team that was predicted to barely make the playoffs before the 2016-17 series began and led them to the Eastern Conference Finals, pushing the defending Stanley Cup champions to the brink of elimination.
The Senators continue to look for their first Game 7 win in franchise history, dropping to 0-6 all-time with their loss to the Pens.
The Penguins will face the Nashville Predators for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Monday night. The game will be at 8 PM in Pittsburgh.