Ottawa, ON – Colin Greening scored the game-winner 7:39 into double-overtime, as the Ottawa Senators outlasted the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1, in Game 3 of this Eastern Conference semifinal series from Scotiabank Place.
Daniel Alfredsson's shorthanded goal with 28.6 seconds left in regulation forced overtime before Greening buried a rebound in the second extra session to send the Senators to victory.
On the deciding goal, Andre Benoit fired a shot from the right faceoff dot that Tomas Vokoun fought off, but Greening was there on the low right side to backhand the rebound into the back of net.
Craig Anderson, who was pulled early in the second period of Ottawa's Game 2 setback, bounced back with a 49-save performance for the Senators, who trail this best-of-seven series 2-1.
"You just want to give your team a chance to win," Anderson said. "Sometimes stats are misleading. You just kind of build off the good stuff."
Tyler Kennedy scored the lone Pittsburgh goal, while Vokoun was handed his first loss of the postseason despite stopping 46-of-48 shots for the Penguins, who went a woeful 0-for-6 on the power play.
Game 4 is slated for Wednesday in Ottawa.
Pittsburgh held a 1-0 edge late in the third and seemed poised to take a commanding 3-0 series lead after Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson went to the box for slashing at the 18:33 mark of the final frame.
But the Senators put together one final rush, with Anderson heading to the bench as his team skated the puck up the ice.
Milan Michalek received the disc at the left point and feathered a beautiful pass to the front of the net for a cutting Alfredsson, who one-touched the puck over Vokoun to tie the game with 28.6 seconds left on the clock.
"Obviously we let this one slip away," Vokoun admitted. "Getting scored on on our power play with 30 seconds...sometimes you have to go through adversity and this is ours."
The Penguins nearly ended the contest near the 11:00 mark of the first overtime when Pascal Dupuis rifled a shot that Anderson never saw, but the puck rang off the post to keep the game locked at 1-1.
After both teams failed on a power-play early in the second overtime, Greening sent the Ottawa faithful home happy with his third marker in as many games this series.
Kennedy put Pittsburgh in front late in the second stanza after the Senators turned the puck over in their own end. Matt Cooke kept the disc in the Ottawa zone and slid a cross-ice feed that was blocked by a sprawling Michalek, but the puck ended up on the stick of Kennedy, who fired a shot off the crossbar and in to make it 1-0.
Game Notes
The Penguins entered the contest 10-for-31 on the power play (1st in the NHL) this postseason ... Pittsburgh forward Evgeni Malkin was held without a point for the first time this postseason ... Ottawa centerman Jason Spezza, who underwent back surgery on Feb. 1, returned to the lineup for the first time since the fifth game of the regular season. Spezza recorded four shots in 18:40 of ice time ... Pittsburgh fell to 11-3 in its last 14 Game 3s ... Ottawa improved to 3-0 on home ice this postseason ... The Sens are 16-12 in 28 playoff OT games in their history ... The contest was the first game this postseason to go into double-overtime.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.