Despite an awful opening five minutes and indifferent play in the third period, the Sens capitalized on their chances and buried the short-handed Penguins. Erik Karlsson was a surprise scratch with an as yet unknown upper-body injury. Click here for the box score. A look at the goals:
1. Neil (Turris, Foligno)
Allowed to walk out in front of the net Neil bangs in his own rebound
2. Butler (Foligno)
A great pass on an odd-man rush that Butler puts away
3. Spezza (Greening, Phillips)
A great individual effort by Spezza who draws out Johnson and then slides the puck in from behind the net
4. Michalek (Greening, Spezza) (pp)
Re-directs the puck in off his skate
5. Pittsburgh, Malkin
Gonchar throws the puck away and Malkin beats Anderson short-side
6. Michalek (Greening, Kuba)
Great pass to a wide-open Michalek who makes no mistake
Top-performers:
Milan Michalek – two goals and strong defensively
Jason Spezza – a goal and an assist and didn’t turn the puck over
Zack Smith – didn’t show up on the score sheet, but was great defensively and on the forecheck
Players Who Struggled:
Chris Phillips – completely invisible other than a couple of turnovers
Jared Cowen – struggled with puck management and lead blueliners in turnovers