Senators' playoff path often runs through Pittsburgh

Prior to the 2013 season, the Ottawa Senators and Pittsburgh Penguins met three times in the playoffs over the six previous seasons.

The first matchup in 2007 saw the Senators beat the Penguins in five games. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin played their first NHL playoff game in Ottawa, which eventually led to a 2009 Stanley Cup for the pair of superstars.

The next year it was a completely different story with Pittsburgh sweeping the hobbling Sens, who had captain Daniel Alfredsson play in Game 4 with a knee that required surgery.

The winners of each series went on to become runners-up in the Stanley Cup Finals.

Then in 2010, the Penguins ousted the Senators in six games to spark the beginning of the end for an Ottawa team approaching a major rebuild.

This year marks the first time the two teams are not meeting in the first round. It pits a Penguins team stacked with veteran talent versus a young and up-and-coming Senators squad.

Here is how the teams stack up now in comparison to year's past, with the numbers representing each team’s NHL regular season ranking that year.