Condon, Sens earn convincing win vs. Penguins
OTTAWA -- Stellar goaltending by Mike Condon and strong special teams play sparked the Ottawa Senators to a 4-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins at Canadian Tire Centre on Thursday night.
Condon, who was acquired by the Senators in a trade for a fifth-round pick on Nov. 3, made 29 stops for his 10th win of the season.
The Senators (22-14-4) were 2-for-5 on the power play and killed off all three shorthanded situations they faced to win their second in a row. The Penguins (26-10-5) lost for the second time in two nights while seeing their road record drop to 8-8-3.
Bobby Ryan, Mike Hoffman, Tom Pyatt and Mark Stone scored for the Senators, while Conor Sheary replied for the Penguins.
Matt Murray, who returned from a lower-body injury to play his first game since Dec. 28, made 29 saves.
Stone scored the only goal of the third period, taking a pass from Derick Brassard and redirecting a shot by Murray at the 8:59 mark.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan was handed a game misconduct at 18:03 of the third, shortly after the team's fifth penalty of the night.
The Senators scored two power-play goals to own a 2-0 lead after one period.
Ryan notched the first one at 5:29, one-timing a Chris Wideman pass from the top of the left-wing circle that beat Murray low. It was the eighth goal of the season for Ryan.
Hoffman scored his 12th of the season when he deflected a low Erik Karlsson shot while positioned in the right-wing circle to the top corner.
The Senators went ahead by three at 12:50 of the second period when another Karlsson shot was deflected, this time by Pyatt for his sixth goal of the season and second in two games.
The Penguins got on the board with 6.4 seconds left in the second period after Evgeni Malkin fired a shot from close that deflected off Sheary and over Condon's shoulder, with Senators defenseman Marc Methot screening his goalie.
NOTES: Penguins C Eric Fehr was scratched for the first time since Dec. 16. He has seven points in 35 games. ... Penguins D David Warsofsky, who was recalled from Wilkes-Barre Scranton on Wednesday, was also scratched. ... Senators D Fredrik Claesson was scratched. The team's seventh defenseman, he was told to move out of his hotel on the weekend. Claesson has only played two games since Nov. 13. ... The Senators host the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday ... The Penguins are in Detroit to play the Red Wings on Saturday.