OTTAWA – Colin Greening scored 7:39 into double overtime as the Ottawa Senators edged the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Sunday in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.
Pittsburgh still leads the series 2-1, with Game 4 in Ottawa on Wednesday.
Tyler Kennedy scored with just over a minute to play in the second period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.
It looked as though Pittsburgh had earned a 1-0 victory but Senators captain Daniel Alfredsson scored a short-handed goal with 29 seconds left in regulation time.
That set the stage for Greening’s overtime heroics.
Ottawa forward Jason Spezza, who hadn’t played since Jan. 27 after undergoing back surgery to repair a herniated disc, lined up alongside Milan Michalek and Cory Conacher.
The sellout crowd chanted the 29-year-old’s name during his first shift.
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Spezza was facing a familiar opponent. His last game before going under the knife was at home against the Penguins, when he got one assist and logged 21 minutes of ice time.
In his first game back, Spezza was slow to backcheck but he did manage to generate a few scoring chances and made some nice passes.
His back was put to the test in overtime when Penguins forward Craig Adams delivered a bone-crunching hit along the boards. Spezza shook off the hit and seemed none the worse for wear.
Both teams had good scoring chances in the extra periods. Perhaps the best chance came when a Pittsburgh shot grazed the post and nearly ended the game in the first period of overtime.
The Senators struggled to get the puck past Penguins netminder Tomas Vokoun, who stopped 48 shots.
At the other end of the ice, Senators goaltender Craig Anderson made 47 saves.
Anderson was on his game after being pulled in Game 2. He robbed Penguins captain Sidney Crosby early in the second period and then moments later stopped a hard shot by Evgeni Malkin, who smashed his stick against the ice in frustration.
He again stymied Malkin with a sprawling save in the first frame of overtime. Anderson’s extra-time heroics brought the crowd of 20,500 to its feet with chants of “Andy! Andy!”
The Senators took seven penalties against a Pittsburgh team with the best power play in the playoffs, but they managed to escape unscathed.
The game looked to be over after defenceman Erik Karlsson took a slashing penalty with less than two minutes left in the game. But Ottawa killed off that penalty.
The win means the Senators remain undefeated on home ice during this year’s playoffs.
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