Penguins vs. Senators Final Score: Pittsburgh Takes Series Lead with 4-1 Win Over Ottawa

The Pittsburgh Penguins came into their series against the 7-seeded Ottawa Senators a bit banged up. It’s not that they were injured rather their egos had been severely bruised after being taken to six games against the New York Islanders and it was that bruised ego that people thought would be an issue against the upset-minded Senators.

But while the Penguins got taken to six games against the Isles, they came out with a vengeance in Game 1 against Ottawa and managed to get a 1-0 series lead after beating the Sens 4-1.

While the Ottawa Senators were and still are excellent upset candidates, especially after abusing he Montreal Canadiens in the opening round, the Sens aren’t without their flaws. They’re a strong 7-seed, stronger than most to be exact, but they can’t seem to rally when they allow early goals and that was the case on Tuesday night.

Paul Martin scored for the Pens and was soon joined by Evgeni Malkin in the scoring club. That 2-1 lead soon ballooned into a 4-1 lead after Chris Kunitz scored in the second period and Pascal Dupuis added a fourth in the third period.

The Sens inability to rally came back to bite them and it’s looking like it might define the series. Pittsburgh is a fast team that like to take scoring chances in aggressive fashion, and we saw in Tuesday what happens when the Sens are bombarded by goals and then asked to come back later in the game. The series is far from being over, but a fatal flaw was exposed in the Sens strategy and if prodded, can become an issue they don’t overcome.

Pittsburgh was bruised coming into this game but they got a leg up right out of the gate against Ottawa. They’ll need to maintain, which was something they couldn’t do as well as they wanted to against the Isles, but they know how to handle a messy series and this one has the makings of an even messier series even after the first game seemed so one-sided.