Ottawa Senators Spoil the Penguins Playoff Hopes

The Ottawa Senators eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night, finishing the best of seven series in five games. The Penguins will watch the rest of the playoffs from the stands after a 3-0

The Senators success is largely because of strong goaltending with Ray Emery. Although he was challenged by Pittsburgh's young phenom Sidney Crosby, Emery stayed focused in goal, which helped the rest of his team.

"The experience he had last year and the consistency he's shown this year, it gives you confidence," Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson said. "Playing a tough game on the road (game four in Pittsburgh on Tuesday), coming up as big as he did is obviously huge."

The Senators hope to continue to hold their playoff momentum in the second round. This is Ottawa's tenth consecutive playoff appearance. With strong offensive leaders such as Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Mike Comrie and Dany Heatley, backed by defensemen like Wade Redden, Anton Volchenkov, and Joe Corvo, the Senators are primed for a long playoff run.

"We've got a well-rounded group of guys and if our top line doesn't score, we'll get one from our second line or our third line." Senators' right wing Chris Neil said. "Guys chip in here and there so that's great."

The Penguins on the other hand will have plenty of time off to regroup and possibly practice their golf swing. What they had hoped to be a good playoff appearance this season, fell short. After a 47 win, 105 point regular season, the Penguins were optimistic of their playoff chances. Their young group of stars proved to lack the experience necessary to advance in the team's first playoff appearance since 2001. Pittsburgh's top two scorers, Sidney Crosby and rookie of the year top runner, Eugene Malkin, are both in their teens. Crosby, who has been compared to the likes of Wayne Gretzky, had an amazing year. The 19-year-old center became the youngest player to hold the NHL's scoring record, with 36 goals and 120 points during the regular season. Crosby contributed three goals and two assists in this series. Malkin however was far from a star in the series. He was able to provide four assists, but much more was expected of him.

"Malkin was disappointing in the post season. He made too many mistakes" said NHL analyst Josh Seybert. "(Also) Josef Melichar made too many bad passes and played sloppy defense. The whole team played sloppy defense."

The Penguins hope to take this loss in stride and learn from it. The team has many young players and will continue to improve in the coming years.

"We had a fun year and we've really grown a lot together and had a great attitude all year," Pittsburgh's Mark Recchi said. "This is a great learning process for us right now and I think the guys will remember this feeling for the summer and for next year when the playoffs start. We had 14 or 15 guys playing their first playoff round and next year it's not going to be so foreign to them." game five loss in Ottawa. The Senators will advance to the second round, facing either the New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers or the New York Islanders next.