
The Pittsburgh Penguins struggled to finish opportunities in loss to the Ottawa Senators.
The Pittsburgh Penguins couldn't parlay their momentum from Thursday's win into a second straight on Saturday night. To their credit, the Ottawa Senators played a perfect road game, holding the Penguins to just two goals and capitalizing on the few chances they had.
Finishing chances have been an issue for the Penguins as they continue to underperform expectations early on in the season. They threw 42 shots at Senators goaltender Joonas Korpisalo but failed to score at least three goals for the fourth time this season.
Goal Recap
(OTT 1-0) Ridly Greg (2): Claude Giroux (5) & Jakob Chychrun (4) <PP>
(OTT 2-0) Brady Tkachuk (5): Claude Giroux (6) & Tim Stutzle (7)
(OTT 3-0) Dominik Kubalik (1): Ridly Greg (5) & Mathieu Joseph (4)
(OTT 3-1) Sidney Crosby (4): Bryan Rust (2) & Kris Letang (5)
(OTT 4-1) Brady Tkachuk (6): Tim Sutzle (8) & Travis Hamonic (2)
(OTT 5-1) Drake Batherson (1): Vladimir Tarasenko (6)
(OTT 5-2) Jake Guentzel (2): Sidney Crosby (4) & Chad Ruhwedel (1)
Three Stars
3. Sidney Crosby
This game was Crosby's best performance of the season, notching two points (1G-1A) in the losing effort. His line combined for 17 of the Penguins' 33 scoring chances in the game and were buzzing from the drop of the puck.
If there is one positive to take away from the Penguins' slow start, it's that Crosby has yet to play his best hockey and still has nine points (5G-4A) in eight games.
2. Brady Tkachuk
The Senators got a complete team effort in the offensive zone in this game. Tkachuk was one of four Senators to record multiple points, scoring his fifth and sixth goals this season.
1. Joonas Korpisalo
The only thing NHL goaltenders need to do to get out of a slump is play the Pittsburgh Penguins. Korpisalo entered Saturday's game 1-3-0 with a .886 save percentage but quickly found his game, stopping 22 Penguins' shots in the first period.
The game settled down after that, but Korpisalo stood tall, stopping 40 of 42 shots and picking up his second win of the season for the Senators.
The Penguins end their four-game homestand on Monday evening against the Anaheim Ducks.
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