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The Montreal Canadiens announced that defenseman Andrei Markov, rocked on a hit by Matt Cooke in the eighth minute of the first period, has sustained a lower-body injury and won’t return to Game 1.

The Penguins were well aware of the importance of scoring first on Montreal, given the Canadiens’ ability to protect a lead.

Maybe it was Washington, after all. Montreal was lauded for its impressive penalty-killing unit after holding the NHL-best Capitals to one power-play goal in 33 attempts in the first round. The Penguins have scored on the Habs in each of their first two man-advantages in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal.

Sergei Gonchar’s first shot split the stick of Tom Pyatt.
His second tickled the twine.

The dangerous thing about the Montreal Canadiens is their ability to protect a lead, and that was a concern for the Penguins going into Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series tonight at Mellon Arena.

The Montreal Canadiens pulled the upset of the Stanley Cup playoffs, becoming the ninth No. 8 seed in NHL history to defeat the top team and the first to do so by rallying from a 3-1 series deficit.

Pascal Dupuis had quietly had a strong series for the Penguins in their Eastern Conference quarterfinal against the Ottawa Senators, even if the score sheet didn’t show it.

We were wrong. We wrote the Ottawa Senators off too soon. We gave them no chance to win Game 5 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series, called the city a graveyard for goaltenders and were rewarded with a triple-overtime game that was a deadline killer. At least we didn’t have to interview Andy Sutton. But, [...]

Ottawa defenseman Matt Carkner’s goal at 7:06 of the third overtime gave the Ottawa Senators a 4-3 victory over the Penguins in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference quarterfinal at Mellon Arena. The Senators cut the best-of-seven series to 3-2. Game 6 is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa.

Several spectacular saves – including Marc-Andre Fleury doing a snow angel – and an Evgeni Malkin shot off the right post highlighted the second overtime of Game 5 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinal series between the Penguins and Ottawa Senators at Mellon Arena. After 100 minutes, the game remains tied at 3-3. Ottawa goalie Pascal [...]