Two Power-play Goals Lift Penguins Past Senators

Pittsburgh, PA

The Pittsburgh Penguins recorded two power-play goals en route to a dominant 4-1 victory over the Ottawa Senatorsin Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at CONSOL Energy Center.

The Penguins received man-advantage goals from Paul Martin and Chris Kunitz on top of an even-strength goal from Evgeni Malkin and a shorthanded tally from Pascal Dupuis to clinch the victory.

Tomas Vokoun tallied 35 saves to win his third consecutive start in the postseason for the Penguins, who had seven power-play goals in 21 attempts in their first-round win over the New York Islanders.

"We have been good on our power play; we need to go create momentum for our team," Kunitz said. "Sometimes it goes in, sometimes it doesn't, but it's nice to kick off the game with a power-play goal, get everybody going."

"We learned a lot from the first series against the Islanders. Tonight I think we played our game and Vokoun was huge for us," Dupuis added.

Craig Anderson recorded 26 saves while Colin Greening scored the lone goal for the Senators, who limited the Montreal Canadiens to three goals on 19 power-play opportunities in their first-round series.

Martin opened scoring 2:41 into the game with Kyle Turris in the box. He held the puck at the point and waited for traffic to form in front of goalie Craig Anderson before pulling the trigger for a 1-0 lead.

Malkin got the primary assist, giving him at least one assist in all seven postseason games Pittsburgh has played. He leads the League with 10 assists in the playoffs.

Pittsburgh's lead was short-lived as Colin Greening scored his first Stanley Cup Playoffs goal when he pushed a loose puck across the goal line past Vokoun at 4:51.

Malkin provided the go-ahead goal at 12:15 of the first period with one of the easiest goals of his career. He positioned himself to the left of Anderson and just had to make sure his stick was on the ice to redirect a perfect pass from Kunitz.

Seconds after Ottawa forward Cory Conacher took a holding penalty, Kunitz recovered a shot by Jarome Iginla and smacked it past Anderson at 18:33 of the second period for a 3-1 lead. Dupuis scored a shorthanded goal in the third for the final count.

Meanwhile, the Senators lost rugged defenseman Eric Gryba, who suffered an upper-body injury after a second-period open-ice hit from Brooks Orpik.

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Two Power-play Goals Lift Penguins Past Senators