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Senators score eight goals against Penguins

Daniel Alfredsson

Ottawa Senators’ Daniel Alfredsson, of Sweden, celebrates his 400th career goal at 3:31 of overtime to give the Senators a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the Calgary Flames in NHL hockey game action in Ottawa, Ontario, Friday, Dec. 30, 2011. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

AP

Pittsburgh scored 25 goals in five games, starting with Sidney Crosby’s return from a concussion on March 15. By contrast the Ottawa Senators had just two goals in three games going into this contest. This certainly looked like a mismatch on paper, and it was, but not in the way you might have assumed. The Ottawa Senators, no doubt inspired by the opera version of O Canada that preceded the game dominated the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 8-4 victory Saturday.

Daniel Alfredsson led the charge for Ottawa with two goals and two assists to bring him up to 54 points in 70 games. Like many of the Senators’ players, he had struggled lately with just three points in his previous 12 contests.

Milan Michalek netted his 33rd goal of the season to open up the scoring at 9:06 of the first period. Matt Cooke followed it up with two unanswered goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins, who had a 2-1 lead going into the second period. Sergei Gonchar evened the game just 33 seconds into the second period and from there, the Senators never looked back.

If there was a silver lining in this game for Pittsburgh, it was that Crosby scored his first goal since returning from a concussion. He also added another assist, giving him 23 points in 14 games this season.

Pittsburgh has been fantastic lately, but they’re still battling with the New York Rangers for the Atlantic Division title and the first seed. At the same time, the Philadelphia Flyers are still threatening to surpass the Penguins, so Pittsburgh could realistically finish with the first, fourth, or fifth spot in the Eastern Conference depending on how they do in the final two weeks of the season.

Meanwhile, Ottawa needed this win to maintain some breathing distance on the ninth seed Washington Capitals. They can help their cause further and potentially deal a lethal blow to the Winnipeg Jets fading playoff ambitions if they win in Winnipeg on Monday.