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 Gary Roberts and Petr Sykora scored in the first period and the favored Penguins, determined not to duplicate their awful postseason opener of a year ago, rode Marc-Andre Fleury's goaltending after that to a 4-0 victory over Ottawa in the Eastern Conference playoffs Wednesday night.
Roberts had two goals, only one fewer than he had during an injury-interrupted season, and Evgeni Malkin
-- the NHL's No. 2 scorer -- had a goal and two assists.
Pittsburgh, which never recovered from its opening-game 6-3 loss to Ottawa during their five-game series last April, takes a 1-0 lead into Game 2 on Friday night. The Penguins have won their last nine home games.
Fleury made 26 saves in his first career playoff shutout, twice stopping Cory Stillman during an extended Ottawa power play late in the second period in which Pittsburgh was down two men for nearly a minute. Fleury is 11-2-1 since returning Feb. 28 from a nearly three-month layoff with a badly sprained ankle.
Pittsburgh also was down two men for 50 seconds early in the third, but the Senators
-- a below-.500 club since their NHL-record 13-1 start -- couldn't get the puck past former No. 1 draft pick Fleury in only his second career postseason victory. The Senators were 0-for-7 on the power play.
It was a major turnaround from last April, when the Senators jumped on Fleury and the playoff-inexperienced Penguins for a 2-0 less than seven minutes into Game 1 in Ottawa and went on to dominate the series despite losing the next game.
On Tuesday, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said it was imperative to avoid such a letdown
-- and he showed some playoff grit of his own by trading swings with Wade Redden late in the game after Crosby was pummeled while carrying the puck to the net.
Two of Pittsburgh's most experienced players made certain that letdown didn't happen as Roberts, who turns 42 next month, exasperated the Senators yet again with two more goals. Roberts played on Maple Leafs teams that eliminated Ottawa three times during a four-season span from 2001-04.
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Roberts, out since Dec. 29 with a broken leg until returning Sunday in Philadelphia, kept Wade Redden away from the puck behind the Senators end not long after the opening faceoff. That allowed Georges Laraque to grab the puck and get it back to Roberts in front, where he beat Martin Gerber in close with only 1:08 gone
-- Roberts' first goal since a two-goal game Dec. 23 against Boston.
Sykora, who didn't score in Pittsburgh's final six regular-season games, made it 2-0 with 7 1/2 minutes left in the first, working a 2-on-1 break with Malkin after Mike Commodore gave up the puck at mid ice.
Malkin and Roberts also scored late in the third period, after it was clear there would be no Senators comeback.
Ottawa -- already without key injured regulars Daniel Alfredsson, Mike Fisher and Chris Kelly
-- played most of the final two periods without defenseman Anton Volchenkov, who lay on the ice for several minutes after being cut in the forehead by Malkin's slap shot midway through the second.
Play was stopped briefly to clean up a small pool of blood on the ice, but Volchenkov got up on his own and may have been saved from a more serious injury by his protective visor.
Notes: With the Penguins nearly at full strength for the first time in months, D Darryl Sydor was scratched. ... Pittsburgh won Game 1 of a playoff series at home for the first time since a 4-3 win over the Rangers in the 1996 Eastern Conference semifinals. ... Ottawa is 3-9-1 without Alfredsson this season. ... Gerber, who backed up Ray Emery as Ottawa reached the Stanley Cup finals last season, made 31 saves.
[Associated Press; By ALAN ROBINSON]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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redistributed.
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