The Ottawa Senators Are Rolling And The Pittsburgh Penguins Need More…

from Ken Warren of the Ottawa Citizen,

Twenty-four years ago, destiny was clearly calling the Canadiens, who won a record 10 games in overtime — with seven different overtime goal scorers — en route to the title. The 1993 Canadiens also remain the last Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup.
Now, does anyone out there believe in history repeating itself?
Here come the Ottawa Senators, fast writing a story that verges on plagiarism.
When Bobby Ryan burned past Olli Maatta in overtime and scored the winner on Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Senators the early lead on Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference final Saturday, it marked Ottawa’s sixth extra time victory of the playoffs.
Ryan has scored two of the overtime goals, with Dion Phaneuf, Clarke MacArthur, Jean-Gabriel Pageau and Kyle Turris netting the others.
When the Canadiens entered the third round of the playoffs in 1993, they, too, had won five games in overtime.
From there, the ridiculous run of good fortune and the unexplainable — defenceman Eric Desjardins capped a hat trick performance by scoring in overtime — continued.
At this point, anyway, there also appears to be something special in the air for the Senators — Pageau capped his four-goal performance by scoring in overtime — when the puck drops for overtime.

from Bill West of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review,

After Sunday's practice at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex, Sidney Crosby recalled just one instance from Saturday's Game 1 of the Eastern Conference final where he potentially forced a play and consequently cost the Penguins a scoring chance opportunity.
But the captain also explained that he rarely second-guesses his decisions after the fact.
“I don't usually dissect my game that much,” Crosby said. “I'm not going to start now.”
For Crosby, who finished with two shots on goal in a 2-1 overtime loss to Ottawa in Game 1 and tallied just one shot attempt in regulation, there's still plenty of confidence that better offense will come in this series. Arguably the best hockey player on the planet can afford to think that way. But the Penguins, at coach Mike Sullivan's behest, will try to challenge themselves to get more pucks to the net.
Just 14 of the Penguins' 28 shots in the loss came during the game's approximately 52 minutes of five-on-five play. That rate ranked as the second-lowest in Sullivan's tenure as coach. But it hardly represented an aberration, a reality acknowledged by the coach. Six of the Penguins' 15 lowest five-on-five shots-on-goal rates in games under Sullivan have come in these playoffs, and 13 of the 15 occurred this season.

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The Ottawa Senators Are Rolling And The Pittsburgh Penguins Need More Shots

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