OTTAWA, Ontario — Craig Anderson and the Ottawa Senators bounced back nicely two days after a blowout loss put them on the brink of elimination.
Anderson stopped 45 shots, Mike Hoffman scored the tiebreaking goal early in the third period and the Senators beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 Tuesday night to force a decisive Game 7 in the Eastern Conference Finals.
The 36-year-old Anderson was coming off a pair of rough outings, including Sunday when he was pulled after yielding four goals in Ottawa’s 7-0 loss in Game 5 at Pittsburgh.
“You can’t change what happens in the past,” said Anderson, who has credited work with a sports psychologist early in his career for helping him manage the mental side of the game. “From that moment on you have to look forward and get ready for the next one.”
Hoffman fired a slap shot through traffic off a pass from Fredrik Claesson to put the Senators ahead at 1:34 of the third. Bobby Ryan also scored a rare power-play goal for Ottawa.
It was quite a response after the drubbing in the previous game.
“I think the biggest message for us was if somebody told us back in training camp in September that we’d have an opportunity to win Game 6 in the Eastern Conference final at home in front of our fans we would’ve taken it,” Ryan said. “So let’s not dwell, let’s not kick ourselves and put our heads down. Let’s embrace this opportunity to extend this for two more days together and go from there.”
Evgeni Malkin gave Pittsburgh, vying for its second straight trip to the Stanley Cup Final, the lead early in the second period and Matt Murray finished with 28 saves.
“I thought we played a real good game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we dominated zone time. We had lots of chances. We didn’t score tonight. The puck didn’t go in the net, but if we continue to play the game that way, then I believe we’ll get the result.”
Game 7 is Thursday night in Pittsburgh, with the winner advancing to face the Nashville Predators for the championship.
Ottawa was primarily looking for a return to structure in Game 6, beginning with a smoother start — which they got. Notable in a scoreless opening period were two effective penalty kills, one of which saw Viktor Stalberg get the best opportunity short-handed.
Pittsburgh had four shots with the man advantage, but Anderson stopped them all. It was evident early that he had his game back in this one. He stopped Nick Bonino off a rebound in transition, Scott Wilson off a deflected shot by Phil Kessel, and Bonino again when Kyle Turris gave the puck away.
Anderson then stopped 22 of 23 shots in the second period.
