Ottawa fell short tonight at Mellon Arena by the score of 2-1, after a Kris Letang shot from the point beat Brian Elliott top shelf. The goal was setup by some outstanding work behind the net by Sidney Crosby, who found Letang nearly unchecked.
The Senators matched the Penguins at every facet of the game, making the loss that much more disheartening. You couldn't have asked for a better effort from this Senators team tonight, and in reality they did what they set out to - steal one of two from Mellon Arena. Even with the loss, home ice has tilted in Ottawa's favor, and the Senators could realistically wrap this series up with three home wins over the next five games.
Brian Elliott played very well, and the young superstars on the Ottawa Senators played up to their potential. Peter Regin was the lone goal scorer for Ottawa with an impressive blast to beat Marc-Andre Fleury.
However, I can't be completely optimistic. Again, Daniel Alfredsson and Jason Spezza struggled, and there's no way around it. Alfredsson had an assist on the Regin goal, but was virtually invisible the rest of the night. Spezza wasn't invisible - he was very much involved in the game, turning the puck over left and right. And, believe it or not, Jason Spezza logged almost twenty minutes of ice time and failed to get a shot on goal. Ovehckin-esque, and not in the good way.
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Let's get the logistics out of the way first.
The Senators scored just seconds into the first period after a Peter Regin blast from just inside the blue line beat Marc-Andre Fleury, who looks a little rattled right now. Pittsburgh answered later in the period after a brutal Jason Spezza turnover in the defensive zone, and a crashing Sidney Crosby buried the soft rebound off of Brian Elliott past the Senators goaltender.
Pittsburgh and Ottawa have really stepped up the physical play, and there was more than a handful of jostling after the whistle. Max Talbot and Zach Smith even took the gloves off after the period ended, and the referees let it go. Don't think that was necessarily the smartest decision by the stripes to allow the two to throw down, as the physical play will probably continue to rise over the next two periods.
Second period was predictably played with a ton of chippiness, with each team trying to make runs at one another. The referees tried to gain order by taking some post-whistle scufflers to the box, and it seems to have worked to some degree. No goals scored in the second period, but each team had a couple of big time chances. A Sidney Crosby takeaway in the Penguins offensive zone set up Kunitz and/or Guerin with a beautiful, wide-open one timer, but the puck trickled away before either of the two could get to it.
Obviously, the one play that will continued to be talked about and looked at was the hit by Andy Sutton on Jordan Leopold. As Leopold skated down the wing with the puck, Andy Sutton met him and delivered one of the most bone-jarring hits I've ever seen. Sutton has to be one of the hardest hitters in the NHL, no question about it.
To me, this was a classic Andy Sutton hit. Questionable enough to be talked about, but not necessarily dirty. I didn't see Sutton leave his feet, and I did see Leopold skating with his head down. The old adage goes "Keep your head up!" and it may have helped Leopold here. Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Jordan Leopold has been knocked out of the game, and that was pretty obvious from the get go. He was out cold before hitting the ice, and laid motionless for quite a few seconds.
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