Lowly Senators no match for Penguins

Associated Press

OTTAWA

The Pittsburgh Penguins are taking advantage of some of the NHL’s worst teams.

Tyler Kennedy and Jordan Staal each had a goal and an assist and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Ottawa Senators 5-1 Tuesday night.

“We’re playing the way the Penguins play. We’re doing all the right things in the system. We’re trusting each other to be there and back each other up and we’re playing hard,” Staal said.

Pittsburgh also beat the last-place Edmonton Oilers 5-1 at home Sunday.

Chris Kunitz had three assists for the Penguins, who also got goals from Ben Lovejoy, Matt Cooke and Zbynek Michalek.

The Senators have lost two straight after their three-game winning streak was snapped in Buffalo on Sunday.

Ryan Shannon scored for the Senators. Ottawa’s Craig Anderson allowed four goals for the second straight game. He made 36 saves while Pittsburgh backup Brent Johnson turned aside 21 of 22.

“Obviously it’s not the way you want to lose. When you get outshot 41 to whatever it is, that’s not our game,” Anderson said. “Tonight Pittsburgh played their system to a tee and they capitalized on our mistakes.”

Paul Martin and Dustin Jeffrey had two assists each.

After Kennedy gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead in an otherwise uneventful opening period, the teams scored three goals in just over three minutes to start the second.

Staal’s ninth of the season put Pittsburgh up 2-1 at 1:21 of the second period. Staal scored into an empty net from the top of the crease following a few seconds of chaos surrounding Anderson.

Shannon scored for the Senators less then a minute later to cut the Penguins’ lead in half, but Lovejoy restored the two-goal cushion at 3:05 in the second when moved in from the point and sent a shot from the top of the face-off circle through Anderson’s legs.

Cooke put Pittsburgh up 4-1 at 7:35. The goal was upheld by a video review to ensure Cooke did not kick the puck into the net.

Michalek scored the only goal of the third period.

Despite holding a 13-6 advantage in shots the Penguins only led 1-0 after the first period.