Pens give Kovalev win in Ottawa return
Posted March 15, 2011 11:25 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA — Tyler Kennedy and Jordan Staal had a goal and an assist each Tuesday night while Chris Kunitz added three assists to power the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-1 win over the Ottawa Senators.
Ben Lovejoy, Matt Cooke and Zbynek Michalek also scored while Paul Martin and Dustin Jeffrey had two assists each as the Penguins (41-22-8) won for the second straight game over the two worst teams in the NHL. They were 5-1 winners over the last-place Edmonton Oilers at home Sunday.
The 29th-place Senators (25-36-9) have now lost two straight after their three-game winning streak was snapped in Buffalo on Sunday.
Ryan Shannon had the lone goal for the Senators while Craig Anderson allowed four goals for the second straight game. He made 36 saves while Pittsburgh backup Brent Johnson turned aside 21 of 22 shots for the win.
Kennedy gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in an otherwise uneventful opening period, then the two teams scored three goals in just over three minutes to start the second.
Staal’s ninth of the season put Pittsburgh up 2-1 at 1:21 of the second period. Stall scored into an empty net from the top of the crease following a few seconds of chaos surrounding Anderson.
Shannon scored for the Senators less then a minute later to cut the Penguins’ lead in half, but Lovejoy restored the two-goal cushion at 3:05 in the second when moved in from the point and sent a shot from the top of the face-off circle through Anderson’s legs.
Cooke put Pittsburgh up 4-1 at 7:35. The goal was upheld by a video review to ensure Cooke did not kick the puck into the net.
Michalek scored the only goal of the third period, giving the Penguins a comfortable 5-1 lead.
Despite holding a 13-6 advantage in shots the Penguins only led 1-0 after the first period.
Paul Martin took a point short that was heading wide before Kennedy redirected the puck off both posts and in behind Anderson for a 1-0 Penguins lead at 9:14.
It was just the second goal in eight games for Kennedy, who has 16 on the season.
Notes: The Senators recalled defenceman Andre Benoit and forward Jim O’Brien from Binghamton of the American Hockey League for Tuesday’s game…Ottawa is 17-6-1-5 in its last 27 games against Pittsburgh since April 22, 2003…The Penguins recalled defencemen Corey Potter and Steve Wagner from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League for Tuesday’s game in Ottawa…The Penguins were missing eight players due to injury or illness Tuesday. Included in that list are Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. The have now lost 288 man games to injury compared with just 185 all of last season…Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury has a 30-11-5 record and a goals against average of 2.12 and a save percentage of .928 since Nov. 12.
