Senators beat Penguins in 1 1/2 periods of Over Time

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators battled through 87:39 minutes of playoff hockey last night, the longest game of the 2013 playoffs yet.  The first period was scoreless but leaning towards to Penguins, and then late in the second period Tyler Kennedy scored taking the lead for the Penguins.  The Senators were playing flawless hockey but the Penguins took advantage of the first mistake and it cost the Senators. The game looked like it was in the bank for the Penguins, although they were barely avoiding close calls, especially one by Chris Neil in the end of the third period.  With a slashing penalty for the Senators at 18:33 in the third period, it looked like the Penguins would take this series but Craig Anderson was sent to the bench and it was still 5-on-5 hockey.   The Senators finally broke Tomas Vokoun down, who gave up a deflection to Daniel Alfredsson, who scored a short handed goal with 28 seconds remaining in the game. The game was pushed into the first over time period, where Evegin Malkin missed an incredible scoring opportunity for the Penguins.  The first period of overtime revealed opportunities for both teams and a lot of back and forth hockey but with no goals.  The goaltenders played a solid overtime period, blocking shots and denying opportunities on each end of the ice. Craig Anderson recorded 49 saves in net for the Senators and Tomas Vokoun 46 saves for the Penguins, both goaltenders definitely had the pressure of them, not such an easy day at the office for either.  Center Jason Spezza was back in the game for the Senators after being out for three months to under go back surgery.  He was expected to create some momentum for the team, he did create a few chances but his shifts were short and he appeared to tire easily. Seven minutes into the second over time period Vokoun rebound another shot and couldn’t get to Greening's in time, who scored the game winning goal for the Ottawa Senators.  A similar mistake from the end of the third period that also ended up in a goal, this time ended up in the loss of a critical game that could have put the nail in the playoff coffin of the Senators.  Last night was the second straight time that the Ottawa fan’s saw a last minute game tying goal, the first was in Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens.   The Ottawa crowd erupted into hysteria at the end of this critical game where the Senators could have either kissed their playoff chances good-bye or cut the Penguins series lead in half. The Penguins still lead the series 2-1, the Senators and the Penguins will faceoff again on Wednesday.