PITTSBURGH: The formula for beating the Pittsburgh Penguins is not difficult. It’s the doing it for 60 minutes part that’s tricky.
The Ottawa Senators did everything they thought they needed to do against the Penguins in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals Tuesday night. They carried play for long stretches, put steady pressure on Pittsburgh goaltender Tomas Vokoun and mostly stayed out of trouble, taking just three penalties.
Two too many, as it turned out.
Pittsburgh’s thriving power play scored twice to stay red-hot and the Penguins rolled to a 4-1 win. Not bad for a team that continues to tinker with its special teams trying to find the right formula.
Whatever it is at the moment, it’s working.
Paul Martin and Chris Kunitz scored power-play goals as the Penguins improved to 9 for 24 with the man advantage in the playoffs.
“Their power play is good,” Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson said. “We knew that going in and if we want to have good chance to win a game, we’re going to have to shoot down their special teams. It’s huge for them. If we’re able to kill those off, it’s a different game. If we can get a couple power-play goals, it changes momentum.”
Ottawa certainly didn’t in the opener, going 0 for 5 on the power play and surrendering a short-handed goal to Pittsburgh’s Pascal Dupuis in the third.
“If we don’t capitalize on opportunities, they’ll get their goals because there’s a lot of studs on their team,” Ottawa’s Cory Conacher said.
Including Dupuis. The versatile forward now has a league-high six goals in the postseason.
“It’s not just 5-on-5, it’s not just scoring goals,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. “He’s an outstanding penalty killer and he did that again tonight. He scored the goal on the PK, but his work on the PK was just as impressive.”
Evgeni Malkin extended his points streak to seven games with a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, while Vokoun stopped 35 shots for his third straight victory since taking over for struggling Marc-Andre Fleury.
Colin Greening scored for the Senators. Anderson made 26 saves, but Ottawa had no answer for Pittsburgh’s power play.
Pittsburgh didn’t need to wait long to get a chance to put the power play to work. Ottawa’s Kyle Turris drew a high-sticking penalty before the game was 90 seconds old, and barely a minute later, Pittsburgh jumped in front.
Malkin worked his way into the corner then threaded a pass between two Ottawa defenders to Martin at the point. Martin’s slap shot from the point deflected off Ottawa defenseman Jared Cowen and scooted past Anderson just 2:41 into the game to give the Penguins an early lead.
“The fact we took a minor penalty on the second shift of the game and put them on the power play put us back on our heels a little bit,” Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said.
The Senators didn’t take long to tie it, evening things at 1 on the kind of soft goal Vokoun had avoided during his two stellar starts against the Islanders.
Ottawa’s Erik Condra won a battle in the corner for the puck, then threw it from behind the goal to the side of the net.
Vokoun, anticipating a crossing pass instead of a shot, found himself out of position. The puck squirted behind him and was inches from the goal line before Greening reached over the goaltender and poked it in.
Malkin responded with his third goal of the playoffs, though his linemates did all the hard work. James Neal poke-checked the puck away from Cowen behind the Ottawa net then fed it to Chris Kunitz.
Kunitz then zipped a pass to Malkin’s awaiting stick just outside the goal crease and all the reigning NHL MVP had to do was tap it in to put the Penguins back in front.
Kings 2 Sharks 0: In Los Angeles, Jonathan Quick stonewalled the San Jose Sharks with a 35-save shutout as the streaking Los Angeles Kings grabbed a 2-0 win in the opener of their Western Conference semifinals series on Tuesday.
Quick recorded his second shutout of the post-season as the defending Stanley Cup champion Kings won their fifth straight game. They won four consecutive contests against St. Louis in the first round after falling into a 2-0 hole.
Game Two of the best-of-seven set is also in Los Angeles on Thursday.
In the first standoff between the Pacific Division rivals, Slava Voynov scored in the first period and Mike Richards netted in the second for the Kings, who needed very little offense to seal the victory.
Los Angeles took just 20 shots against Antti Niemi, who made 18 stops.
After running through the playoffs as an eighth seed a year ago, the Kings have home ice advantage in a playoff series for the first time in 21 years.
Fifth seeded Los Angeles has been especially lethal at the Staples Center, where they have won 11 straight.
Conn Smythe Trophy winner Quick was at his best in the opener as his team handed the Sharks their first loss of the playoffs.
San Jose swept Vancouver in the first round.
