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PITTSBURGH — The world of sports is full of some tremendous ironies, none greater than the one that must surely be dawning on Ottawa Senators fans after last night's 5-3 loss, which has them heading home down 2-0 in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarter-final series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
For months this season, Ottawa's faithful were kept awake at night by worries that the team's troubled goaltending situation might undermine its chances of getting back to the Stanley Cup final when playoff time rolled around.
Well, two games into what may be a very short postseason for the Senators, goaltender Martin Gerber has been the brightest light for a team that is lucky to have been outscored only 9-3 through the first two games of the series.
By all rights, the Senators should have been blown out of the Mellon Arena during the first 40 minutes of last night's game as the Penguins counted 40 shots and dominated play at both ends with their unique combination of skill and speed.
Penguins players celebrate a goal by Petr Sykora during Game 2 of an Eastern Conference quarter-final Friday night at Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. The Penguins won 5-3 to take a 2-0 series lead. (Getty Images)
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But Gerber, much maligned in Ottawa for inconsistent play during the regular season, was superb, kicking out 49 of 53 shots on the night to keep his team in the game to the bitter end. Only Ryan Malone's power-play goal with 1:02 to play kept the game from going to overtime after Ottawa fought back from 3-0 disadvantage midway through the second period.
"That's a good job by him [Gerber], but for us, if we get that many shots, there's only so much a goalie can do," said Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, who had four assists. "If we get that many shots, I like our chances."
The Penguins came in waves across the Ottawa blueline, and once they arrived, they dazzled with their puck control and ability to find one another all around Gerber, who put in one of the finest playoff goaltending performances ever for the Sens.
But the big guns came through for Pittsburgh with Evgeni Malkin assisting on the first three goals, Crosby collecting four assists, and Petr Sykora and Ryan Malone scoring twice each. It all made it clear that unless Ottawa can find a way to keep up with the Penguins and move them off the puck, this series may not be returning to Pittsburgh.
"We gave them too much room," Gerber said. "You can't give them time and space like that, they'll take you apart. We have to play the way we did during the final 20 minutes and try to play in their zone."
The consolation for Ottawa was that they didn't simply surrender when overwhelmed by the Penguins and a 3-0 disadvantage. Ottawa got second-period goals from Shean Donovan and Cory Stillman and then the equalizer in the third from Cody Bass, who played just 21 NHL games this season and had just two goals.
"It was a bit of nail-biter and probably shouldn't have been that close," Crosby said. "It was one of those things where they got a couple of goals from not great scoring chances.
"That doesn't happen every game."
Almost ironic as Gerber being Ottawa's best player is the fact that the Senators' scoring is coming from the unlikeliest of sources. Two of Ottawa's three goals last night came from Bass and Shean Donovan while Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, who tied with teammate Daniel Alfredsson for the most playoff points a year ago, have been held through two games to just one assist between them.
Dating back to last spring's five-game Stanley Cup final loss to Anaheim, Spezza and Heatley have one goal between them in their past seven playoff games.
"We got scoring from guys who go to the net and on two occasions Donovan and Bass went to the net and Cory scored one on the power play," Ottawa head coach Bryan Murray said. "There's no question we have to get goals from our other people as well."
Barring an awakening for Ottawa's two most prolific offensive players — or perhaps a surprise return from captain Daniel Alfredsson for the third game — the Senators will be hard pressed to avoid their first first-round exit since losing in seven games to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the spring of 2004.
One bitter moment for Ottawa came late in the game with the score 3-3, when Donovan raced to a loose puck and had a short breakaway before he was taken down by Pittsburgh's Chris Letang, who appeared to put his stick across Donovan's knees.
"I'm not sure why Letang didn't get a penalty on that," Murray said. "I just watched it three times … I'm disappointed."
