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PITTSBURGH — It took 68 seconds for the worst nightmare of the Ottawa Senators' fans to take shape in the form of Gary Roberts.
The crusty Pittsburgh Penguins left winger, quickly approaching his 42nd birthday, has a long history with Ottawa's NHL playoff collapses. He played a central role in three triumphs by the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2001, 2002 and 2004 — losses bitterly burned into the memories of all diehard Senators fans.
Now there he was with the Penguins, last night's opener of their Eastern Conference quarter-final series marking his fifth appearance in the playoffs in the past seven seasons.
He was playing only his second game since recovering from a broken fibula and high-ankle sprain that cost him 43 games in the regular season. And Ottawa fans may have thought his spell was broken a year ago, when the Senators easily dismissed Roberts and the Penguins in the first round.
But Penguins head coach Michel Therrien knew the hard-nosed Roberts is just the sort he needs to show his youngsters how to play in the playoffs. So he sent him out there early, putting Roberts and linemates Georges Laraque and Maxime Talbot on the ice before the game was a minute old.
Roberts, always a bristly ball of elbows, stick and shoulders, knocked defenceman Wade Redden flat on his back behind the Senators' net. That freed the puck and, as it slid toward Talbot, Roberts headed for the front of the net.
None of the Senators went near him, a telling sign, and Roberts fielded a pass from Laraque. He slid a backhand shot along the ice and under the grasp of Senators goaltender Martin Gerber to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 1:08.
This clearly sent a bolt of stiffener to the collective backbone of the Penguins. Where they were clearly overawed by the Senators a year ago in the playoffs, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and company were now ready to show their skills.
"It was a huge lift for our bench and our fans as well," said 19-year-old Jordan Staal, one of those youngsters overwhelmed in the playoff opener a year ago, when the Senators charged to a 6-3 win.
Emboldened by Roberts, the Penguins took the play to the Senators for the rest of the evening, grabbing a 1-0 lead in the playoff series with a 4-0 win. With the Senators reeling from injuries, the Penguins are in an enviable position.
"Last year, I think we were in shock after Game 1 in Ottawa. They came out and battled us so hard," said Roberts, who tried to aw-shucks his way around his role in last night's win. He said luck was the big factor since he is still not in prime shape because of the injury layoff.
"Hopefully, I'll feel as good tomorrow as I do right now," he said. "I didn't have a lot of jump in my legs out there. I was just fortunate to be in the right place at the right time."
Perhaps. But Roberts had enough left in the tank to score his second goal with 1:35 left and swat around a couple of Senators who tried to rough up the Penguins at the end of the game.
Watching Roberts show the way for his youthful teammates must have gone down especially bitterly with Senators owner Eugene Melnyk. He has long believed, as have the team's fans, that Roberts is just the kind of heart-and-soul player the team lacked.
(The word in hockey circles last summer was that one of the reasons John Muckler was fired as the Senators' general manager was his failure to land Roberts at the trade deadline in 2007.)
With last night's two goals, Roberts has now scored 14 of his 32 career playoff goals against Ottawa. "Probably because they're the only team I've played in the last eight years," he said.
As for the notion of himself as an inspiration to his younger teammates, Roberts thinks that only works as long as he is carrying a full share of the load.
"There's no doubt that you have to be a contributor for guys to listen," he said. "The guys here really care for each other. So I don't believe that's going to be an issue, but still, I have to be a contributor to be heard, I think."
By 1:08 of the first period last night, everyone was listening.
