Playoff Roundup: Pageau's career day propels Senators to 2OT win over Rangers
Ottawa Senators forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau had five career playoff goals coming into Saturday afternoon. He left with four more—including the double-overtime winner against the New York Rangers in Game 2 of their second-round series.
Prior to the big-money goal, a 2-on-1 snipe over the glove hand of goalie Henrik Lundqvist at 2:54 of the extra extra frame, Pageau spent the afternoon cashing in against the Rangers, netting a first period goal to knot the game at one, then a pair of late third-period tallies that tied things at five and sent the game into OT.
“It’s always fun to score here in front of our fans,” Pageau said. “To hear (the fans chanting) my name was motivating to go out there and give everything I had. I got a couple of lucky bounces but it feels really good to do that home.”
It wasn’t the first big-time postseason performance for the 24-year-old, who finished the day having played a career-high 28:44. He also scored a hat trick against the Canadiens in a 2013 first-round series, and now owns two of the three playoff hat tricks in franchise history. Pageau is also the second player in NHL history to tally four goals in a playoff game with the final being an OT winner, joining Joffrey Lupul, who accomplished the feat with the Mighty Ducks in 2006 against the Avalanche.
Jean-Gabriel Pageau: Ottawa’s little sparkplug with the big heart
Ottawa also got goals from Mark Stone and Marc Methot along the way, while Michael Grabner, Chris Kreider, Derek Stepan and Brady Skjei scored for the Rangers, with Skjei notching the first multi-goal game of his career.
Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson stopped 43 of 48 shots, including 13 in a frenzied second period and an additional 11 in the overtimes, while Lundqvist made 28 saves on 34 shots.
“We kept the crowd at the edge of their seats all night,” said Anderson. “We’ve learned from our experience in the first round of the playoffs to stick with it and never give up.”
The win gives Ottawa a 2-0 lead as the series shifts to New York.
Full recap | Box score | Highlights
Here's what happened in the other game on the Saturday docket:
Penguins 6, Capitals 2 | PIT leads 2-0
Phil Kessel had two goals and an assist as the Penguins rolled to a win over the Capitals in D.C.
He finished off a pretty cross-ice pass from Sidney Crosby for his first of the night late in the second period to give the Pens a 2-1 lead, while his second came early in the third to put Pittsburgh up 4-2. Kessel then added an assist on Evgeni Malkin’s goal just over three minutes later.
The Penguins also got a pair of goals from Jake Guentzel, who now leads playoff scorers with seven tallies on the postseason, and 34 saves from goalie Marc-Andre Fleury.
Matt Niskanen and Nicklas Backstroke found the back of the net for the Capitals, who saw goalie Braden Holtby get chased after allowing three goal on 14 shots over two periods. Backup Philipp Grubauer didn’t fare much better, giving up two goals on nine shots in 20 minutes of play.
The teams head to Pittsburgh for Game 3 on Monday.
Full recap | Box score | Highlights
The Borg: SI's 2017 Beard Bracket
Highlight of the Night
So many goals to choose from when it comes to Pageau's outburst, but it's hard to pick against the OT GWG. He never gives away his intention, looking toward linemate Tommy Wingels and keeping Lundqvist guessing. Then comes a top-shelf snipe for the ages.
Highlight of the Night, Part II
If loving every last part of this Sid-to-Phil sequence is wrong, I don't want to be right.
Illustrated Review: Predators and Blues providing a second-round staring contest
Three Stars
3. Brady Skjei (NYR) - Not only did the Blueshirts blueliner have a pair of goals, he also made a number of key defensive plays that won't show up on the scoresheet.
2. Marc-Andre Fleury (PIT) - The Capitals kept on coming and Fleury kept turning them away. Had he not stood tall during an early onslaught, Saturday ends up a very different result.
1. Jean-Gabriel Pageau (OTT) - The hometown kid with the playoff performance of a lifetime.