Game 7 offers chance at history for Penguins and Senators

These are the fun games to play. “I’m very happy and proud to be a part of such a great team as this and the teams I’ve been part of in the past”. Kelly’s wingers would be Viktor Stalberg and Ryan Dzingel, who played 6:45 and 4:56 respectively on Tuesday, which was at least more than White’s 2:39 … He doesn’t have a goal, but Malkin does have six assists in six Game 7’s. The Penguins have played in two Game 7s over the span of one year, including a victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning in the Eastern Conference Finals last year. Who steps up, though, is anyone’s guess.

We need a huge performance from this clutch performer. Clogging up the the neutral zone and guarding the fortress around Craig Anderson while relinquishing mostly chances from outside a 25-foot radius is their only hope.

On the other side of the ice, Pittsburgh has to feel confident about their chances going into Game 7. At least a half-dozen, right? Ball/puck don’t lie. Evgeni Malkin buried a lovely goal just a minute later to give the Penguins an official lead.

Not surprisingly, the Penguins see their familiarity with Game 7s as an advantage. It wasn’t a one-off, though.

But the Penguins did not cruise their way past the Senators on Tuesday night. It was the game-winner.

When Pittsburgh needs him the most, he elevates his game and dominates. We work every practice to score and to help the team to win.

Through the first two rounds of the playoffs, Nashville G Pekka Rinne has also been much more consistent than Anaheim’s 24-year-old John Gibson. It’s exactly the problem of the previous games. It’s a small sample size, and Game 7s tend to be low-scoring affairs anyway. In those contests he has racked up one goal, three points and 18 shots.

Prediction: Take the Penguins to lock up the Eastern Conference for the second straight year tonight. However, in the two games that went Over there were only five goals scored in each, but it was the age of 4.5 totals. That’s not to mention Kessel is logging the third highest ice time in Pittsburgh, behind Crosby and Jake Guentzel. “It’s not something that’s new to them”. A cross-slot pass to him at the Ovechkin circle where Bobby Ryan scored his powerplay goal was held for just a second too long.

The Ottawa Senators have had a knack for doing the unexpected this post-season. They lost 1-0 to the Boston Bruins in a Game 7 that had no score with seven minutes left.

But just as the Senators’ veteran goalie has a history in elimination games, so, too, do the Penguins. Ottawa has to win a critical game on the road and the odds are definitely against them. Mike Hoffman will have to carry over the same tenacity he had in Game 5. The Senators are big underdogs at plus-1,200. He has Game 7 experience, he can win face-offs, he can kill penalties, he can centre the fourth line. While Crosby played it close to the vest with his comments, Ottawa coach Guy Boucher raised a few eyebrows and many sarcastic quips over social media after essentially “crowning” the Penguins after the barrage. With both statistics canceling each other out, looking at how the teams have played over the last several games may give a better indication of what to expect tonight.

If there was a right year for an National Hockey League team to finally repeat yet again it might be this one, what with a weakened Eastern Conference and no dominant team out west.

“I know we will be”. They don’t care. They’ll try to play the way they always play on Thursday night. Thing is, though, that Anderson was actually quite good during the outing.

Shots 34-19 for the Pens after 2. That’s a stellar performance, but Anderson simply didn’t get the goal support.

But let’s take a look at how they got this far.

Though Pittsburgh outshot Ottawa 11-9 in the opening frame, they were 0-for-2 on the man advantage.

“I think (it’s) just the fact that it’s coming down to one game, and everything that’s led up to now really doesn’t matter”, Murray said Wednesday. “These are the games, when you’re a kid growing up, that you’re playing in the backyard”.