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OTTAWA, Ontario — All the right things were said. The Senators are a good team, a proud group. They’ll make a push. It won’t be easy. Have to match their best.
The messages the Penguins preached prior to Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final on Tuesday turned out to be very much accurate.
Especially the need to match the Senators’ desire, which the Penguins did not do consistently enough during a 2-1 loss at Canadian Tire Centre, forcing a Game 7 back in Pittsburgh on Thursday.
Some good news for the Penguins and their fans: Ottawa has never won a Game 7 in its history, going 0 for 5 when faced with that situation.
The Penguins, meanwhile, failed to close out a series on their first try for the third time these playoffs and fifth consecutive time overall.
This loss did not occur because the Penguins were flat early. They actually had a decent start and scored the first goal of the game — a 100 percent accurate predictor of who would win in the five games before Tuesday.
The Penguins dropped to 10-2 this postseason when scoring first.
They really tilted the ice during the first half of the second period, but the Senators steadied themselves later in the middle session.
Ottawa took over — and got the game-winning goal — early in the third, holding the Penguins to zero shots on goal for more than six minutes at the start of the final period.
The Senators charged ahead, 2-1, ahead on a rocket of a shot from Mike Hoffman at 1:34, his blast from the top of the left circle going ping-ping-ping before going in.
The Penguins got a superb goal from Evgeni Malkin in the second period, but an apparent Trevor Daley goal that was reversed via coach’s challenge loomed large.
At 3:04 of the second, Daley pushed a puck through in a scrum. Ottawa coach Guy Boucher argued for goaltender interference.
The easiest way to explain the reversal is this: Daley kept pushing Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson while the puck was away, preventing him from making the save.
Or at least that’s how those reviewing the call interpreted it.
Malkin put the Penguins ahead, 1-0, at 4:51. He curled out to the bottom of the right circle, with Ottawa’sZach Smith trailing him. Anderson stopped Malkin’s initial shot, but Malkin backhanded the rebound to complete a fantastic individual effort.
The Penguins accounted for 16 of the first 19 shots on goal in the second period before the Senators seized the momentum.
A bad turnover from Olli Maatta nearly resulted in the Senators tying the score, but Bobby Ryan misfired on a pass to Derick Brassard.
Ryan would atone for the gaffe, however, when he tied the score at 13:15 of the second.
The Penguins were down a pair of defensemen when Ron Hainsey went off for interference and Ian Cole picked up two minutes for high-sticking just 36 seconds later.
Without their two best penalty-killing defensemen, the Penguins gave up a power-play goal for the first time this series, Ryan blasting a one-timer from Kyle Turris from the right circle.
That snapped an 0-for-29 skid for Ottawa’s power play, which hadn’t scored since April 27. Their first power-play goal in 11 games snapped a scoreless stretch of 98:16.
The Penguins were fortunate to get out of the second period tied. Matt Murray caught a break when Zach Smith’s shot deflected of Phil Kessel’s stick in front of Murray and nearly beat him.
The first period Tuesday did not include a four-goal outburst like Game 5, but the Penguins were mostly solid, creating offense from deep in the zone, something they lacked in the first three games of the series.
Sidney Crosby took an early whack to the face from Senators forward Mark Stone that went unpenalized. It seemed to be a theme for him, too, as Crosby also was wrestled to the ice at the end of the second period by Turris, another one that did not draw a call.
Guentzel appeared to have a quality chance — he had an open shooting lane from the left circle — but Erik Karlsson hustled back and yanked the puck away from Guentzel, flashing the type of defensive awareness that should make Karlsson the Norris Trophy winner in about a month.
Ottawa’s best scoring chance in the first period came when Stone swatted a puck out of the air like he was poking a double the opposite way. No dice, though, as Murray got a little help from the post.