Pens sweep Senators

Pens sweep Senators

OTTAWA (AP) — Evgeni Malkin and Jarko Ruutu scored second-period goals, leading the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 3-1 win over the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday night to complete a four-game sweep of their first-round series.

Sidney Crosby scored into an empty net with 7.5 seconds remaining and had an assist, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for Pittsburgh, which got its first sweep in 16 years and its first playoff series win since 2001.

Cory Stillman scored for Ottawa, which was swept out of the first round for the third time in its 11 consecutive playoff appearances.

The sweep was a measure of revenge for the young Penguins, who were knocked out of last year’s playoffs in five games by the Senators. Ottawa went on to make its first Stanley Cup finals appearance in modern franchise history, losing in five to Anaheim.

The Penguins also became the first team to advance to the second round. Pittsburgh will face Boston, if the Bruins overcome their 3-1 series deficit against Montreal to advance, or the winner of the New Jersey-New York Rangers series.

Injured Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson played his second straight game and was reunited with linemates Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, but it wasn’t enough.

Malkin scored his second goal of the playoffs 1:40 into the second. The 21-year-old Russian opened the scoring during the Penguins’ second power-play opportunity as he flicked his own rebound past Martin Gerber with a one-handed backhand on a setup by Crosby.

Complete story appears in Thursday’s edition.