National Hockey League playoffs: Kessel gets Penguins on even terms with Senators

And while Senators fans would have loved to have taken the first two games of the series - especially on the road in Pittsburgh - many weren't letting the Game 2 loss get to them. Anderson stopped 28 shots for the Senators, who host Game 3 on Wednesday. The chorus has grown so loud over the last month, tuning it out simply wasn't an option no matter how many one-goal victories they pulled off in the playoffs.

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Mike Sullivan calls the energetic back-and-forth on the Pittsburgh Penguins bench "a man's argument". For his part, Malkin said he and Kessel are fine.

Consider the message delivered. Sure, for a young player not expected to get many minutes - or even dress for the game - getting a chance to play in the Eastern Conference final is an unexpected thrill. "I thought we controlled the play from start to finish".

That's just Kessel being Kessel. Baby Kessel's parents say their baby boy, already has a love for the game.

Phil Kessel, snapped a second opportunity shot past a stumbling Anderson after his first attempt was blocked by Jean-Gabriel Pageu and the puck went right back to Kessel. "Caught an edge. It (stinks)".

Schultz looked to have a shoulder injury by the way he went into the boards, and the way his arm hung as he skated off the ice. In sports and in life we tend to search for reasons for things that are beyond talent, health, luck. Ottawa was giving the Penguins a tough time all night.

When asked what he did to pass the time during a near 19-minute pause between shots - Ottawa defenceman Chis Wideman's 56-foot slapper with 3:47 remaining in the second period was his team's last puck on net before Zack Smith's backhand from in close at the 15:06 mark of the third period - Fleury responded "wait". "That's something that we're looking forward to", Senators blueliner Marc Methot said Tuesday before the club left Pittsburgh.

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If Alabama wins the Tuscaloosa Regional, they would travel to Gainsville for the Super Regional to take on the top-seeded Gators. Single-game tickets for Friday's games will go on sale Friday morning and will be $7 for adults and $5 for youth and seniors.

Rust was on the losing end of a clean check by Ottawa's Dion Phaneuf 4:58 into the game. Much of that has been attributed to the Senators and the way they have clogged up the ice, but there's a chance it can also be traced back to the fact that the puck is not getting to the forwards as fluidly as it does when the likes of Kris Letang, Trevor Daley and Schultz are in the lineup.

With Murray injured, the Penguins wouldn't have gotten this far without Fleury's play, and as happy as Rutherford is for the veteran, his teammates are over the moon about his playoff success. But circumstances and intangibles really are what makes things work.

The five-time Grand Slam victor took advantage of another wild card and overcame a shaky opening set to defeat 58th-ranked Christina McHale 6-4, 6-2 in the first round of the Italian Open.

"You guys have too many cameras on the bench", he said. "You get into a rhythm, a kind of rotation going and just don't overtax yourself at any one point because if you get yourself in a position where you can't recover for a bit, that's when you could go out there exhausted and make a mistake". We've always talked about adversity as you have the choice.

"That's playoffs written all over it", Predators forward Colton Sissons said Monday. It's a message he repeated before, during and after Game 1. "We didn't manage it as well".

The assist was Ryan's seventh of the playoffs after he had 12 during the regular season. Again, it was a 1-0 game.

Conor Sheary, who himself was concussed in the previous series, was angling toward being a healthy scratch before Patric Hornqvist was deemed unable to play during warmups. Hornqvist has been dealing with a series of bumps and bruises incurred while blocking shots during the opening two rounds of the playoffs. Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger made a rare appearance at PPG Paints Arena. That third period was just brutal to watch.