Jean-Gabriel Pageau became a folk hero in Ottawa on May 5, 2013 as he scored a hat trick in game three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Montreal Canadiens in a 6-1 win. That was also the night some fan had the brilliant idea to counter the Habs' fans annoying Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole soccer-style chant by putting Pageau in place of Ole. It caught on like gangbusters and has been a fixture ever since, but never to the point of last night's Game 2.

If Pageau was a folk hero before, he upped the ante Saturday night and became Legendary with what might just be the greatest playoff performance in franchise history. Pageau scored 4 times including a pair of tip-ins in the final 3:19 of regulation to cap an unlikely comeback and knot the game at 5. He had scored earlier in the game, so that finished the hat trick, but that wasn't enough as Pageau struck again in the second overtime period, a wrist shot on a 2-on-1 over the shoulder of Henrik Lundqvist to ice an exciting, if not mistake filled, game and send the Senators to Manhattan with a 2-0 series lead.

While game 1 was a goaltending duel between Lundqvist and Craig Anderson, the same could not be said of game 2, as both goalies were sub-par and allowed multiple goals that they would have liked to have had another crack at. That is not to say that they didn't have their moments, but on the whole with a combined .865 save percentage it was going to be who blinked last that came with a win on a night where it might not be deserved.

It was shades of Game 6 vs Boston for the Senators, who had three first period power plays, and didn't get a shot despite some good offensive zone possession time, and they ended up on the short end after a missed shot came the other way and resulted in a short-handed goal from Michael Grabner. The missed shot rimmed around the boards and hopped over the stick of Mark Stone, and the commentator's comment of "Stone doesn't have the foot-speed to catch Grabner" might just be the understatement of the year. It was the first of two shorthanded goals allowed by the Senators' power play unit, something that would normally be the kiss of death.

But this playoff season has been anything but normal. After tying it up on Pageau's first of the game before the first period was out, a weak goal to give up on a bad angle, New York took leads of 3-1, 4-2 and 5-3 but the Senators didn't give up. Even after they drew within one, I was thinking that they wouldn't get another one and a night that they beat Lundqvist four times wasn't going to happen very often and they blew this one, but Pageau got his second in just over two minutes to knot the score and send the game to overtime.

Anderson nearly cost his club the game in the first overtime, once again misplaying a puck behind his own net and Kyle Turris bailed him out, getting his stick on the Rick Nash wraparound attempt with a gaping net and Anderson scrambling to get back around from the other side of the goal. That would have been a crushing way to lose, especially since Anderson was shaky at times and has demonstrated a penchant for playing the puck poorly so far this post-season. That was one of a number of point-blank chances for both teams where players blocked shots with their goalies down and/or out. One sequence where Viktor Stalberg and Mark Stone were both denied in close with what looked like 24 square feet of open net stands out in addition to Nash's opportunity.

In what had been a fairly evenly officiated game, the officials absolutely blew a call late in the first overtime period, completely missing a Nash high stick to the mouth of Mike Hoffman, which should have been a four minute minor (especially since the Rangers had been awarded a power play earlier in the OT for a similar infraction) and given the Senators a power play. Perhaps a blessing in disguise given the fact that the Ottawa PP was -2 on the night, but right around the time that non-existent power play would have expired, Alex Burrows won a loose puck race, chipped it up to Pageau who was looking pass the whole way, using Tommy Wingels as a decoy, and then finally decided to shoot, beating Lundqvist for the sixth time of the night and blowing the roof off of the building, and sending a majority of the fans that didn't decide to vacate the building with their team down two late to beat traffic. At least they would have gotten home in time to see the end of the game, so there is that.

Stone and Marc Methot also scored for Ottawa, while the other New York markers came from Brady Skjei, who had a pair, and Chris Kreider.

While the Senators seem to be in control of the series now, there is some concern as Erik Karlsson took a couple of big hits in the second period, the first of which forced him from the game as it looked like his previously injured left foot tweaked something and it didn't look good when he tested is before getting checked out. He did come back, looking very tentative and it was his hesitation to pivot and skate backward that resulted in the second short-handed goal that he never really established a solid defensive position on Derek Stepan. He then was drilled by Ryan McDonagh on the last shift of the second period and fell heavily into the boards on a clean but thunderous hit, and he was upset, maybe about the slash that preceded the hit, but his stick didn't break so under the standards that have been set it wasn't called. He still played a game-high 37:32 but didn't have the same jump in his step in the third or OT.

Also, Clarke MacArthur left the game in the second period after a McDonagh hit late in the first period. It was listed as an upper-body injury, and Guy Boucher stated he was already feeling better, but I am sure there is a lot of uneasiness given his recent concussion problems. Hopefully he is OK and can return at some point, if not Tuesday then maybe Thursday.

Now two games in, two very different styles but the same result. Ottawa got away with one on Saturday, taking advantage of a rare off-night from Lundqvist and bailing out Anderson on a night when neither 'tender had their "A", or for the most part, even "B" game.

For the Senators, is is now eight playoff games played, all eight one goal games, six wins, and a 4-1 record in overtime.

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