Pens beat Sens 2-1 in shootout!
OTTAWA – James Neal scored in regulation and again in the shootout and Evgeni Malkin sealed the deal in the breakaway competition as the Pittsburgh Penguins earned a 2-1 victory against the Ottawa Senators at Scotiabank Place on Sunday night.
Colin Greening had the lone goal for the Senators, who dropped to 3-1-1.
“It was a little sloppy at times, but you’ve got to win them like that,” Neal said. “It’s going to be like that at times this year. [Marc-Andre] Fleury was big for us tonight.”
Ottawa controlled the play through the early part of the game, but the Penguins (3-2-0) struck first, when Malkin picked off a long breakout pass by Zack Smith. Malkin blew past Smith along the left boards, then sent a cross-ice pass to Neal, who one-timed a rocket past Craig Anderson’s glove hand at 13:31 in the first period.
Less than a minute later, the Penguins nearly went up 2-0 when Brandon Sutter snuck up on Anderson and almost slipped a backhanded shot past his left pad. The puck went wide of the post at the last second, and the Ottawa crowd breathed an audible sigh of relief. – Continue reading recap