Thursday, April 05, 2007

Maxime Talbot scores winner over Ottawa with 9.8 seconds left

The improbable even-strength goal (the only one of the night, coming 4 on 4) by Maxime Talbot with 9.8 seconds left in Regulation propelled the Pens to a 3-2 win over the Ottawa Senators, leaving both teams tied at 103 in the standings with one game left each. Earlier in the evening, New Jersey had beaten Philadelphia to clinch the Atlantic Division title and 2 seed. That leaves the Pens and Senators locked into a first round playoff matchup, with the only question left as to which team will have home ice.

Aside from Talbot's winner, all of the other goals were on the powerplay, two for each team. Ottawa scored first, the Pens got two during a major penalty to Ottawa's Jason Spezza for elbowing Jarkko Ruutu to take a 2-1 lead into the 1st intermission. Ottawa scored during the last seconds of a 5 on 3, after a delay of game call against Rob Scuderi, combined with an unusual 6 minutes assessed to Joe Melichar, two for crosschecking and 4 for high-sticking. The Pens would go on to kill the rest of Joe's penalties.

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