hockey: Penguins fall to Senators, 4-1

In their first game at home since a four-game road trip and a highly emotional game in Philadelphia, the Pittsburgh Penguins lost to the Ottawa Senators by a score of 4-1.

Tyler Kennedy scored the lone Penguins goal, and Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza each scored two for the Sens.

The Penguins played pretty evenly, if not better than, the Senators through the first and second periods, though their power play looked pretty awful.But they came out flat in the third period and gave up two goals before Spezza put the game away with an empty netter with less than a minute to play.

The Penguins have proved lately that they thrive in coming from behind in games, but last night, they couldn't find that spark. I do wonder why Therrien didn't pull Dany Sabourin out of the net sooner if he wanted to put the extra attacker on. He could taken him out a good 30 seconds or more before he did (play was whistled dead just as he did take him out and then called timeout). It's not likely that you'll score two goals once you pull the goalie, but you have a better chance of it the more time you have on the clock.

The Penguins hit the road again starting Saturday, with games against the Islanders, Rangers and Bruins. Since their road record (8-7-0) is better than their home record (7-7-2), hopefully they'll be able to regroup and head back to Pittsburgh for some home wins over the holidays.

Box score