Kunitz at the double to send Pens to Stanley Cup Finals
ByReuters
Published 26/05/2017 at 04:32 GMT
May 25 (The Sports Xchange) - Chris Kunitz scored his second goal of the game at 5:09 in double overtime to send the Pittsburgh Penguins to the Stanley Cup Finals with a thrilling 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators in Game Seven of their Eastern Conference Finals on Thursday.
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Image credit: Eurosport
The Penguins, in the NHL title series for the fourth time in 10 years, will begin the defence of their 2016 crown with a home game on Monday when the Western Conference champion Nashville Predators arrive for Game One of the best-of-seven set.
Pittsburgh will be trying to become the first repeat title winners since the Detroit claimed back-to-back Stanley Cups in 1997-98, while Ottawa fell short of making the NHL finale for the first time since 2007.
Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray, playing on his 23rd birthday, stopped 27-of-29 Senators shots as Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson, who stopped 45-of-46 shots in Game Six, made 39 saves on Thursday.
The game was nearly halfway through regulation before the Penguins scored the first goal off a two-on-one against Ottawa defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Kunitz one-timed a pass from Conor Sheary in tight to make it 1-0 at 9:55 of the second period as the winger scored a first goal in his last 22 playoff games.
The lead was short-lived, however as just 20 seconds later, Mark Stone tied it for the Senators, taking a short pass from Karlsson and, from the lower part of the right circle, lifting the puck over Murray's glove.
Justin Schultz then scored on a blast from the center point at 11:44 of the third on Pittsburgh's first power-play of the game to give the home team a 2-1 lead.
At 14:41 of the third, Ryan Dzingel lifted the Senators into a 2-2 tie when he scored on a rebound of a Karlsson shot. (Editing by John O'Brien)
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