Comeback victory has Pens chilling, watching

April 26, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

OTTAWA

Even with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin held in check, the Pittsburgh Penguins scored four unanswered goals and moved into the second round of the playoffs with a huge comeback win.

Pascal Dupuis scored 9:56 into overtime for Pittsburgh, which erased a three-goal deficit and eliminated the Ottawa Senators from the playoffs with a 4-3 victory in Game 6 on Saturday night.

The fourth-seeded Penguins will have to wait for the remaining two Eastern Conference first-round series to end to know who they will face next.

The Senators led 3-0 in the second period of Game 6 and appeared to go up 4-1 in the frame, but lost a goal to video replay when it was determined the puck crossed the line after the net was knocked off its moorings.

Matt Cooke scored his second of the game with 7:36 left in regulation to tie it at 3. Bill Guerin had a power-play goal earlier in the third, a period in which Pittsburgh held an 18-4 shots advantage.

With Crosby held off the score sheet and Malkin limited to one assist, the Penguins got their offense from the rest of the lineup.

“It says a lot,” said Crosby, who recorded 14 points through the first five games. “We’re going to do our best to create things, but there are going to be nights where it’s tougher than others.

“Some nights it may not go in, or whatever the case is, but we’ve still got to do things out there. We’ve still got to be productive, whether it’s not on the score sheet. We’ve got to be responsible out there and find ways to help, but certainly there are other guys who can step up and score those goals like we saw tonight.”

Matt Cullen and Daniel Alfredsson each had a goal and an assist for Ottawa, which won Game 5 at Pittsburgh in triple overtime to stave off elimination.

Dupuis took Jordan Staal’s pass from the left corner and fired a shot past Pascal Leclaire for the winner.

“Jordan made an unbelievable play there in the corner, beat one guy,” Dupuis said. “I thought he was going to give it to me right away. He’s strong enough that he decided to beat another one by himself and he slid it to me there. I’m still not sure where the puck went. I haven’t seen it yet, but it’s in. This is an unbelievable feeling.”

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 28 shots for the Penguins, who won for the eighth time in nine playoff series after they were eliminated by Ottawa in five games in the first round in 2007.

Staal, who also assisted on Cooke’s first goal midway through the second, said the Penguins struggled to find the killer instinct in the series.

“We need to find that better and really finish them when they’re down. We didn’t do that,” he said. “But I just love the character in this room and the way we can bounce back from things and forget about things and work for the next shift and the next game.”