It takes 82 games to gain home ice advantage—and just one game to lose it.
The Ottawa Senators played a phenomenal road game and, to the surprise of most outside, and few inside, the nation's capital, beat Pittsburgh in Game One.
The Senators had a game plan, and they followed it down to the fine print, beating the defending champs 5-4.
As mentioned in my previous article, there are several reasons why Ottawa is capable of winning this series.
One point I made before Game One was that while neither Marc-Andre Fleury nor Brian Elliott, played particularly well during the regular season, Elliott was the better of the two goalies. That was the case tonight. Elliott finished the game with a less than spectacular .810 save percentage. Fleury was worse, finishing with an .808 save percentage.
Again, both goaltenders struggled; however, Elliott was slightly better. When a game is decided by one goal, as tonight’s was, slightly better can mean the difference between a win and a loss.
Another point I made was that while Sidney Crosby scored a league-high 51 goals during the regular s ...
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Article written by Mike Kelly
2010 NHL Playoffs: Senators Win Game One Vs. Penguins—Don’t Call It an Upset
April 14th, 2010 by Mike Kelly Leave a reply »
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