:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/54926541/usa_today_10071463.0.jpg)
It sounds kind of like a Hurricanes regular season loss, for some reason: 46 shots on goal, still end up losing.
That’s how the night went for the Pittsburgh Penguins, as Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson came back in peak form after allowing four goals in the first period on Sunday night. The only goal Anderson allowed came early in the second period, when Pittsburgh would put up 23 shots, as Evgeni Malkin caught his own rebound and slide it by the right skate to make it 1-0.
But the Senators played life-on-the-line hockey great from thereon, and who else to start of their scoring push than the Senators’ “Mr. Clutch” Bobby Ryan. Okay, the two-man advantage helped, so more of a “WTF Pittsburgh?” than a “YES Ottawa!” Ryan’s goal, though, was a well-executed throw from the left circle past a reaching Matt Murray with just under seven minutes left in the second period.
In the opening minutes of the third period, Mike Hoffman would rocket a wrister from left to right, off the crossbar and in to give the Senators a 2-1 advantage. If this measly recap is your first encounter with this game, go watch this goal. The best portrait this postseason of grace under pressure -- had the puck moved or come off Hoffman’s stick a couple inches differently, it would have been tipped or off the other end of the crossbar. But as the announcers said, “There are times when the shooter is just better than the goaltender.”
Better yet, just watch it here:
That’s how the game would end, but rewinding to the first period it could have been going to overtime had it not been for a goalie interference three minutes into the second period. As the puck was loose around the crease, Trevor Daley pushed Anderson into the net with his stick trying to find the puck, and though the puck crossed the goal line, the move would be deemed goalie interference.
It’s back to the Paint Can for Game 7, a potentially bad omen for the Penguins who are 0-6 in their last six Game 7s on home ice after losing Game 6. It’s the most wonderful time of the yeeeeear!