For the second straight year, the Pens are forced to go the distance in the Eastern Conference Final and for the second straight playoff round, they will head to Game 7 while their potential next opponent gets to sit at home and rest. This is largely accepted as existing somewhere between bad and not good.
Also existing somewhere between bad and not good are the Ottawa Senators, who are a game away from getting swept in the Stanley Cup Final by getting to this point after playing 3 teams icing AHL defensemen. What’s more, last night’s 2-1 loss comes on the heels of the Pens running wild on the Sens in a 7-0 thumping in which they chased Craig Anderson twice. You just had to know he was going to come back with a fire lit under his ass. And, for as well as the Pens played last night, none of it mattered when Anderson played the game of his life in making 45 saves to steal it and force the pivotal G7.
And as we know, Game 7 is a coin flip. So much so that not even Fort Minor can figure out the math behind how to win Game 7. But at least Mike Shinoda has a higher Name Remembrance Percentage than the percentage of filled seats in the Canadian Tire Centre last night.
Anyway.
Despite the Pens changing their lineup 0% from Game 5 to Game 6, they would end up getting just 14% of the production. Also making 0 changes were the referees, whose perceptions of what was and was not illegal last night were somehow more delusional than those of sitting US Senators.
Rough start to the game for Sidney Crosby pic.twitter.com/ADdXJQ73Cp
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) May 24, 2017
It’s honestly gotten to the point where the officiating has been so bad that it overshadows the already p bad on-ice product, which in turn suffers more because of the hands-off approach. Not calling penalties under the guise of “not wanting to influence the game” is doing exactly that: influencing the game. The biggest problem in the NHL today is the NHL itself and that’s a fact, Jack.
But I digress…
The Pens were all over the Sens early on in this one, but no one in Ottawa was there to tell you about it. They were able to grab two powerplays in the first frame, but weren’t able to capitalize on either of them. Both teams had chances late to open the scoring, but Stone and Wilson hit more pipes than Tyrone Biggums on their looks.
https://gfycat.com/GoodnaturedFrayedDog
O!!! M!!! G!!! pic.twitter.com/Gj8dR0P8qR
— NBC Sports Hockey (@NBCSportsHockey) May 24, 2017
Then, just 1:47 into the 2nd frame, Malkin and Hoffman got into a jousting match to give us a little 4v4 hockey and give NBC the chance to arouse everyone with some Taylor.
Late in the 4v4, the Pens looked like they had opened the scoring. Daley made a heads-up play at the blue line to hold up enough to get everyone back onside. He and Crosby went to work down low, opening up a look so clean you could eat off of it. Maybe the cleanest look Daley has had in his career. Anderson made one of his 22 saves of the period to deny, but he didn’t control the rebound. Daley crashed and toppled over on to Anderson, pushing him into the net with Karlsson on top of him on the mad scramble in front. Still not sure how Daley had it in him to reach back and sweep it home, but he did. Boucher challenged for goaltender interference and got the challenge to go in his favor. Really could’ve gone either way, but not sure there was really enough there to overturn it.
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Probably could have put some money down on the Sens scoring after that with as much as the Pens were dominating. Irene Adler could’ve taken a lesson from them. Instead, they just kept hammering away, forcing the Sens to take a mortgage out with how much they were living in their own zone. And about 2 minutes after the no-goal call, Geno Smythe put the team on his back to open the scoring by making Zack Smith look about as irrelevant as the city of Ottawa. 1-0
https://gfycat.com/SoulfulMajorGoldfish
Halfway through the period, shots were 16-3 Penguins after being 11-9 in the first. Anderson was dialed in even after giving up two* goals, denying Crosby on two separate occasions just two minutes later. Then, with 8:15 left, Hainsey went to the box for interfering with Jean Gene Pageau on maybe the softest penalty ever called in the history of professional sports. This is not hyperbole. The wheels totally fell off 36 seconds into his minor after Cole caught Turris in the chops with an errant stick to give the Sens’ PP, scoreless in the series to this point, 1:24 of 5v3 action. That was all they needed for a little bit of hope. Hope is a terrible thing. Also fuck Bobby Ryan. Such a stain. 1-1
https://gfycat.com/FewAlienatedJerboa
That's the first 3-on-5 goal Murray has given up this season
— Jonathan Bombulie (@BombulieTrib) May 24, 2017
With that came the end of a period where the Sens got out-shot 23-10 (where 70% of their shots came away from 5v5 play), out-scored 2*-1, all while managing to attempt just 5 shots at 5v5. So, of course, just 94 seconds into the 3rd period, they’d force Game 7, despite the fact that they should have been down a man to start the period.
Here's all that happened to Crosby on the final shift of the period. How any of this is legal, I don't know. #ThisLeagueIsDumb pic.twitter.com/JnKKbhcJDg
— Allie (@Allie874) May 24, 2017
Claesson afforded unlimited real estate to walk right up the gut and dish it over to Hoffman. Claesson took Hainsey to the net and got enough of a screen on Murray for Hoffman’s predator missile to be perfectly placed off the post and in. Not sure you see a better clapper than that. 2-1
https://gfycat.com/ConcernedGrandIberianemeraldlizard
Game.
NOTES
- Officiating was basically what it’d look like if cancer and AIDS had a baby and named it this very game.
- Both goaltenders were absolutely fantastic, but it was Anderson’s second period performance that was the difference.
Pens' 46 shots second-most in team history in a road playoff game that ended in regulation. Had 48 @ Tampa in Game 3 in 2011 (4-2 win).
— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) May 24, 2017
- Pens didn’t have a single player under 54% in 5v5 shot attempt differential, with a decisive 54-31 advantage at 5v5 as well as 26-12 at 5v5 scoring chances. All of this while preventing the Sens from getting really any shots in the high danger area.
Game 7 Thursday night in Pittsburgh. Hold on to your butts. Do it.
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