Senators stunning win over Penguins puts playoffs in reach

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Even with an extra 2,500 Hamburglars in the building, the Ottawa Senators were hard pressed to stop Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins from spoiling their storyline.

In the end, however, Cinderella prevailed – the Senators came from far behind to tie the game in the dying minutes and then win 4-3 in overtime on Mark Stone's wrist shot halfway through the the extra time.

A win for the Senators this night combined with the stunning run of goaltender Andrew (Hamburglar) Hammond were able to put that unlikely playoff spot back within reach. Every stop had been pulled out, from the Hammond stick faces handed out to the early arrivals to having – only in Canada – an on-ice beer fridge standing at attention for the opening anthems.

The surprising tale began as hoped – Ottawa centre Kyle Turris decisively winning the opening faceoff from Crosby, then dashing for the Pittsburgh blueline where he hoped his defence would hit him with a pass.

The puck hit him, all right – and bounced straight back up the ice, the puck ending up on Crosby's stick and, instantly, in the Senators net, back of the Hamburglar.

The game was all of 10 seconds old.

A win this night was equally important to the Penguins – it would clinch a playoff berth for them – and it was clear they wanted it. Five minutes later, the score was 2-0, with forward Beau Bennett clipping in a quick goalmouth pass from Ian Cole.

Less than 10 minutes on, it was Patric Hornqvist poking a puck that had floated into Hammond's crease in for a 3-0 lead.

It seemed the game was over before it had even begun, with the Senators sloppy and disorganized throughout the opening period – as has too often been the case this year.

In the second, however, little Jean-Gabriel Pageau scored a somewhat flukey shorthanded goal when his backhand shot rebounded in off the skate of Pittsburgh defenceman Derrick Pouliot and in behind goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Then, early in the third period, a fumbled puck in the Pittsburgh end gave rookie Mark Stone a chance and he scored on Fleury's stick side.

As lopsided as the opening period had been in favour of the Penguins, the third period belonged to the Senators, with the 20,263 fans screaming each time their team came close to tying.

Finally, with Hammond pulled for an extra attacker, rookie Mike Hoffman scored with a point shot to tie the game at 3-3 and send the game to overtime.

Then, with Ottawa pressing, it was Stone with his second to seal the victory and claim the critical two points.

These two teams are reflective of an NHL season that verges on the bizarre. The scoring race is as tight as history has ever delivered, yet no one seems to talk about it, so low is the interest in totals that say far more about defence than offence. Crosby himself is leading the scoring race, and yet the season-long question has been "What's wrong with Crosby?"

Nothing that could be seen this night as he scored a goal and an assist to move his leading point total to 83 with only two games remaining.

Then you have the Senators, the messiah that has brought them back from the desert an unknown unheralded goaltender who couldn't make a junior team, who was never drafted, who was known, if at all, for allowing three goals in 21 seconds before being yanked in a minor-league game – and in his entire professional career has reached the playoffs only once, losing three of the four games he played.

This night, however, Hammond was brilliant again, stopping 25 shots for the win while Fleury stopped 40.

No one expected the Senators to be still challenging for a playoff spot, however remote that possibility remains with only two games left. Two months back some fans were even arguing that the team should dive for the bottom in the hopes of landing one of the top two prize draft picks.

But then, thanks to Hammond's remarkable 18-1-2 run and discovered confidence in new coach Dave Cameron's charges, the Senators found themselves entering this match two points back of the Penguins, the Detroit Red Wings and the Boston Bruins entering Tuesday's match. All four teams had three games left and, given that the other three had tiebreaker advantage over Ottawa, wins by Ottawa and losses by others would be required.

"It's a bigger game for us than it is for them," Senators forward Clarke MacArthur had said in the morning.

"You see a lot of teams that are fighting here right down to the end," added Crosby, "and there's nothing wrong with that.

"A lot of teams would like to be in this position. A lot of teams are out now and playing down their games here. It's a good challenge for us especially with everything we've been through this year to be in this situation. We should be excited."

"We've proven ourselves," Hammond said before the puck dropped. "We're not afraid of adversity. We know we're going to face it in different ways. Each time we've been met with it, the challenge that's been presented, we've met it.

"It's something that maybe this group thrives on a little bit. We've had our backs against the wall for probably 20 games now, and we've been playing our best hockey."

It will need to continue – but this night made a good argument that nothing is impossible.