Halifax came to see Sidney Crosby but instead got a 40-save Joonas Korpisalo shutout and a 3-0 Senators victory.
The Ottawa Senators improved their preseason record to 5-1 with a 3-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins Monday night in Halifax. Joonas Korpisalo made 40 saves for the shutout.
Ridly Greig opened the scoring with an absolute laser in the first period that stood up as the game-winner.
(Highlight credit: TSN5)
Tim Stutzle helped set up Brady Tkachuk for the second goal and finally, the young German put it away with an empty netter in the dying moments.
It was an impressive performance by Korpisalo and Ottawa's penalty killers. Up 2-0 in the game, the Senators played almost 8 straight minutes shorthanded in the third period. That's living dangerously at the best of times, but when you're facing a power play that includes Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang, it's a recipe for disaster.
But despite the Penguins blasting 18 third period shots at Korpisalo, they stemmed the tide. DJ Smith couldn't have drawn up a better PK practice opportunity and confidence builder than staring down and successfully stopping a Hall of Fame power play.
Most of the crowd was there for Sidney Crosby, who hails from Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia. But despite Pittsburgh's 6-0 power play advantage in the game, it wasn't his night.
The game was billed as the Nova Scotia Showdown – an encore to Sunday's Kraft Hockeyville game in Sydney, which the Sens also won, 4-2 over Florida.