Three days after dismissing the Washington Capitals 2-0 in Game Seven, the Pittsburgh Penguins hosted the Ottawa Senators at PPG Paints Arena for Game One of the Eastern Conference Final. The Penguins did not look sharp.
The Senators, employing a suffocating 1-3-1 system, out-attempted (60-56), out-chanced (35-32), and outshot (35-28) the Penguins in their 2-1 victory.
Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau put Ottawa on the board first, 14:32 into the opening stanza. After Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin turned the puck over behind the net, Bobby Ryan found Pageau for the one-timer goal. Evgeni Malkin would tie with 5:35 remaining in the third, but Bobby Ryan would score the OTGWG 4:59 into overtime.
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Ryan’s goal was beautiful. After the puck was tipped away from Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz along the near wall, Ryan put on his jets and skated by defenseman Olli Maatta. Ryan went forehand then deked to his backhand and roofed a backhanded shot past Marc-Andre Fleury.
Ryan was mobbed by his teammates as he skated back to the bench.
“It felt great, obviously, to come through,” Ryan said. “An important and crucial moment, I guess. We had talked at length about getting the pucks out at the battles at the blue line. We had to win those.”
When you are playing in the Eastern Conference Final but there are Instagram and Twitter DMs to slide into. pic.twitter.com/Lx42YwyjHs
— Bring Hockey Back (@BringHockeyBack) May 14, 2017
“I was kind of lucky that the puck had found me in the middle,” Ryan continued. “I think, once you get in there, you go with — aim over and something instinctual. Got fortunate that I found the back of the net.”
This is the second straight day Ryan has gotten national attention. Friday, during Senators practice, goaltender Craig Anderson faceplanted when stepping out onto the ice.
“Please tell me you got that,” Ryan said to the camera man.
Craig Anderson with an epic fail stepping onto the ice. Bobby Ryan then asks the cameraman if they caught that 😂👌🏻… #PlayoffHockey pic.twitter.com/HJdS1Jy1WM
— Bar South N Celly™ (@BarSouthNCelly) May 12, 2017
After Game One, Senators coach Guy Boucher was asked how confident the Senators were headed into overtime.
“You know what, I don’t think our attitude changes,” Boucher said. “It doesn’t change before the game, between periods, whether we score a goal or get scored. I think that’s what we’ve acquired over time is to stay calm regardless of what’s happening in the score. When they scored the goal, nothing changed on the bench, and nothing changed what we needed to do, and the same for the overtime.”
“So I think we didn’t do any extraordinary things. We just did the ordinary things well, and we stuck to it.”
“Give Ottawa credit,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought they defended hard in their end zone, but we felt as though we had significant offensive zone time. Obviously our power play had an opportunity to be the difference in the first period, and we didn’t execute.”
Game Two is Monday at 8 PM.
Bobby Ryan is the first player in @Senators history with multiple overtime goals in a single postseason. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/4kabN554IR
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 14, 2017
The @Senators are the 6th team in NHL history to win 6 of first 7 OT games in a postseason & first to do so since ANA in 2003. #StanleyCup pic.twitter.com/o9XIZp9RfN
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) May 14, 2017
