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Pens aim for 2-0 lead against Senators

Fri 11th, April 2008

(Sports Network) - The second-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins will try to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven Eastern Conference quarterfinals tonight, when they host the Ottawa Senators in Game 2 at Mellon Arena.

The Penguins jumped out to a great start Wednesday night in Pittsburgh, as they blanked the defending Eastern Conference champions by a 4-0 score.

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 26 shots to record his first career playoff shutout in the easy Pens' victory. The 23-year-old Fleury improved to 2-4 lifetime in the playoffs.

Gary Roberts scored twice, while Evgeni Malkin posted a goal and two assists for Pittsburgh, which registered its first playoff shutout since April 26, 2001 when it blanked Buffalo in Game 1 of the East semifinals.

Pittsburgh is attempting to win its first playoff series since downing the Sabres in that 2001 postseason encounter.

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was held scoreless despite having four shots on net.

Martin Gerber allowed four goals on 35 shots for the seventh-seeded Senators.

Ottawa is expected to be without the services of captain Daniel Alfredsson and centermen Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly throughout the entire series.

The loss of Alfredsson is especially damaging to Ottawa's chances, as prior to this series he had played in every single playoff game in Senators' history. Ottawa will not only miss the Swede's 89 points (40g, 49a) this season, but also Alfredsson's top-notch defensive play from the forward position.

The injury situation nearly became worse on Wednesday, when defenseman Anton Volchenkov was hit in the head by a Malkin shot in the second period. Volchenkov left to get stitches and was unable to return, but is expected to be ready for tonight's contest.

That is good news for Ottawa because the club needs the 6-2, 220-pound Russian's physical presence and shot-blocking ability on the blue line.

This series is a rematch of last year's opening-round set that Ottawa won in five games en route to its first-ever trip to the Stanley Cup finals. However, the Senators had home-ice advantage a year ago as they were the fourth seed compared to Pittsburgh's fifth-place standing.

Ottawa will get a chance to play in front of its home fans in Game 3, as the Sens host Pittsburgh at Scotiabank Place.

The Senators won the season series against the Penguins, going 3-0-1 in four meetings this year. Last year's playoff matchup was the first-ever postseason encounter between the clubs.

The Penguins were 26-10-5 as the hosts this season, while Ottawa had a 21-16-4 mark as the visiting team.

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