Stanley Cup Playoffs: Underdog Ottawa Senators Defeat Penguins in Game One

The heavily-favored Pittsburgh Penguins have been defeated by the underdog Ottawa Senators in Game One of their first round series by a score of 5-4. The Senators silenced Penguins fans at the sold out Mellon Arena on this night.

Why the Senators won

They out-shot the Penguins 11-4 in the first period and ended up out shooting them 26-21. While, eleven players on the Sens finished with at least a point compared to seven players for the Penguins. Ottawa was also much more effective on faceoffs winning 58.6 percent of the faceoffs.

Coach Cory Clouston had his defensemen jumping into the play and creating offense very effectively on this night. In 21 minutes and 24 seconds of ice time young Erik Karlsson managed one goal, one assist, and two shots. He was very effective offensively and was also taking the body with regularity.

Sidney Crosby managed to contribute three assists to his team's cause with two shots on net. Although the Sens did do an effective job of paying special attention to Crosby and taking away his time and space. They also did a good job of getting Evgeni Malkin's attention as evidenced by his chirping to their bench after his first goal.

Concerns with Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes?

Needless to say for anyone who watched the game Fleury did not look sharp in this game. I would not say that most of the goals were bad ones, but they were stoppable pucks. There was also the nasty sight of a dump in bouncing off the glass and going out to the front of the net. While Fleury, expecting the puck to go around the boards, was unable to get back into the net in time to stop the Sens from scoring on the play.

These types of pays seem to be just Fleury's luck when it comes to handling the puck. No Canadian Hockey fan will forget when Fleury scored on his own goal by shooting the puck directly at a fellow teammate in the Gold Medal game of the 2004 World Junior Championship.

Keep in mind this is only the first game of the playoffs. Look for Fleury to get progressively better in each game of this series.

How does Game One impact the rest of the series?

In short, this game was a wake up call for the Penguins. Ever since this match up was decided people have been writing off the Senators chances to defeat the defending Stanley Cup champions. This was a statement game for the Sens. They have shown the Penguins that they are not just happy to be in the playoffs, they are here to win.

The Penguins offensively appear to be functioning just fine, but defensively they have some work to do. Four goals should be more than enough to defeat the Senators. You can surely expect the Penguins to come out and play a much tighter defensive game in front of Fleury the rest of the series.

Pittsburgh had been unspectacular to say the least in the last quarter of the season. In their last ten games prior to the playoffs they lost four games in regulation time and lost one in the shootout or overtime. They will need to recapture the "eye of the tiger" if they are to go deep in the 2010 Stanley Cup playoffs.

What happens in Game Two?

I would be shocked to see the Sens win game two at the Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. The Penguins know how to win in the playoffs after the past two seasons of making the Stanley Cup Final. 

A key element for game two for the Penguins will be the play of Jordan Staal. He will need to step up his play and have more of an impact on the outcome of game two. This will take some pressure off of Crosby and Malkin offensively and possibly create more room on the ice for them if the Sens need to match up better against Staal as well. 

My prediction for game two of this series? Pittsburgh will begin to show signs of life and some of the reasons why they were chosen to steam roll over the Sens by some. In short, the Penguins will win game two by two or more goals and begin to look like the defending Cup champions.