Was that the Ottawa Senators the Penguins were playing in the first round, or was that the Philadelphia Flyers in disguise?
Because, ladies and gentlemen -- to quote Pens' Hall of Fame play-by-play radio announcer Mike Lange -- we've seen this fish before!
Yeah, Pittsburgh has this act down pat by now.
Go up 3-1 in your first round playoff series to a physical opponent, blow the chance to close out the series on your rink in game 5, head to the visitor's building for game 6 and promptly spawn hope in every corner of their team and fan base by falling behind 3-zip.
Then, crush their collective dreams and spirit by coming back to win in dramatic fashion to take the series.
Every Penguin fan remembers how that act played out against the arch rival Philadelphia Flyers in the first round last year.
Well, last night, in a game where the most dominant offensive force in the series thus far -- Pens' Center and Captain Sidney Crosby -- didn't have a point, it was deja vu when LW Pascal Dupuis sent Pittsburgh into the second round with a beautiful, pin-point, top-corner wrist shot from the bottom of the left circle that beat Sens' netminder Pascal LeClaire at near the 10-minute mark of overtime.
That came after Ottawa ran the score to 3-0 after 30 minutes and, once again, had the Penguins looking like they were going to have to host not only a series-deciding contest at home.
And also, perhaps the final hockey game ever at Mellon Arena.
"It was like a party out there," said Senators' forward Peter Regin, perhaps the Sens' best forward in this series.
"We just wanted the party to continue."
Party-crashers, those Penguins.
After last year, Pittsburgh fans know to never doubt the determination and want-to of the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
But they sure know how to do things the hard way.
After giving up a breakway goal to Ottawa' forward Matt Cullen 5 minutes into the game, the Senators' upped their lead to 3-0 on goals by RW Chris Neil and LW Daniel Alfredsson in the second frame.
Alfredsson -- who everyone knew hadn't been playing at full strength and revealed after the game that he had been playing with a torn abdominal muscle -- had his strongest game of the series and really put the screws to Pittsburgh with his tally.
But the Penguins' best forward in this game -- LW Matt Cooke -- poked in a loose puck a little more than a minute later to stabilize the Boys of Winter and turn the game around.
From there, Pittsburgh controlled the play. In the 3rd period, they dominated the Senators, outshooting them 18-4.
And they were rewarded for it when Bill Guerin scored on the power play to make it 3-2 by beating LeClaire glove side, and then Cooke poked in another rebound around the net off a face-off play to tie the score about 5 minutes later.
"In these elimination games, you can't afford to lose momentum for long stretches," said Alfredsson.
"We did, and we're done."
And done they were when #9 worked his magic.
Strangley enough, last night's game had 3 more disputed goal plays, 2 of which again required consultation of the NHL war-room in Toronto -- which made 6 total reviews like that in this series.
Last night, one came on a potential goal by Pens' forward Mike Rupp in the first period, and then the other one came in the third period and overturned a Senators' goal on a play were it was ruled the net came off its moorings just before the puck dribbled over the goal line and past Pens' netminder Marc-Andre Fleury.
Pittsburgh forward Alexei Ponikarovsky also had a goal waved off in the 3rd period by the always-ambiguous ruling that, while there's no penalty for goaltender interference, there's still no goal because the goalie wasn't able to play his position and stop the puck.
I've never understood that rule.
In any event, after delivering what has now been described as easily the most crushing loss in the modern history of the Ottawa Senators ---
--- the Penguins now await their second round opponent.
While it still could be any remaining team in the field, it is more likely to be the Buffalo Sabres or Boston Bruins.
The Bruins lead that series 3-2, with game 6 in Boston today.
The Penguins have wrapped up their first race. let's see where they go next.
More post-game tomorrow.
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