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8 tweets that defined Game 2 between the Senators and Penguins

Game 2 seemed bound for another overtime — until Pittsburgh's Phil Kessel scored with about seven minutes left in regulation time, sending the series back to Ottawa tied at one game apiece.

Game seemed bound for OT — until Pittsburgh's Phil Kessel notched the gamewinner late

CBC News ·
Pittsburgh Penguins' Evgeni Malkin chases down the puck in front of Ottawa Senators' Mark Stone during the second period of Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final in Pittsburgh. (Gene J.Puskar/The Associated Press)

Two days after the Ottawa Senators bested the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first game of the Eastern Conference final, the squads squared off again Monday night.

Would the Sens come out once more with grit and intensity? Bobby Ryan, the hero of Game 1, certainly looked prepared for a battle.

And battle's not the worst way to describe the first period, either.

It may have been a goalless affair, but the initial 20 minutes were packed with a bunch of bonecrunching hits — including this one from Dion Phaneuf on the Penguins' Bryan Rust.

Mercy. Let's take a look at that from a slightly different angle:

The hit would end Rust's night, and the physical play continued throughout the second, with Phaneuf leveling Sidney Crosby about halfway through the period.

Although the Penguins managed twice as many shots as the Senators in the second period, they couldn't find the back of the net.

That led to a bit of post-shift surliness between linemates Phil Kessel and Evgeni Malkin.

For most of the third period, it looked like Craig Anderson's solid netminding, combined with Ottawa's defensive play, meant the Senators would be off to their eighth overtime game of the 2017 playoffs.

But then Kessel got a pass from his good buddy Malkin and, with 6:55 left in regulation time, slotted his own rebound past Anderson.

Just like that, with time running out, Pittsburgh had a precious one-goal lead.

If that lead felt insurmountable, it's probably because the Penguins — for a significant stretch in the latter half of Game 2 — weren't exactly giving Ottawa many opportunities to get on the scoreboard.

The Sens sent Anderson to the bench with 1:26 left in the game, and with the extra skater finally had a couple of cracks at beating Pittsburgh netminder Marc-André Fleury.

But there would be no late game heroics tonight, as the Penguins held off the final barrage and levelled the Eastern Conference final at a game apiece.

And while Senators fans would have loved to have taken the first two games of the series — especially on the road in Pittsburgh — many weren't letting the Game 2 loss get to them.

The series heads to Ottawa for Game 3 Wednesday night.

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