Tonight's Playoff Match-up 22/05

Via: cbc.ca

Pittsburgh Penguins @ Ottawa Senators (7:30pm ET)
TV: CBC, RDS, NBCSN
Series: 2-1 Pens
The Penguins could very easily be up 3-0 in this series, but let the opportunity slip away in the final minute of game three, and then were shut down by Ottawa netminder Craig Anderson in overtime. If the Pens thought this would be a short series against the pesky Sens, they thought wrong. Anderson has been outstanding, and so has the defense, not allowing any of the Pens big guns to hit the scoresheet in the last game. However, Pittsburgh is a strong, veteran team with too much offense to be held at bay for long. They'll learn their lesson from the letdown in game three, and I expect they will come out firing from everywhere on Anderson tonight. The Senators got a big boost from the return or star center Jason Spezza, who played 18:40 in his first game back from injury and looked fairly comfortable. Adding him to a lineup that includes Daniel Alfredsson (8 points) and Erik Karlsson (6 points) should help the Senators keep up with Pittsburgh offensively. However, they need to stick to their defensive style and slow the game down, cause if they get sucked into a run and gun type game, the Penguins will blow them away. Chris Neil suffered an injury in game three, but will be back in the lineup tonight for the Senators, while defenseman Eric Gryba looks to miss his third straight game. There might be a bit of a lineup shuffle for Pittsburgh, as trade deadline acquisition Jussi Jokinen, who has been scratched since game five of the Islanders series, was practicing on the fourth line and second power play unit yesterday. Tomas Vokoun will once again get the start in net opposite Anderson.
Prediction: 4-2 Penguins.

Only one game on tap in the NHL tonight, but I expect it'll be a good one. Thanks for reading, and please comment and share if you like the content here at WAAP. Also, don't forget to vote for the new header image on the blog, details can be found in the 'Contest' tab up top. Tonight's gif, a rather unusual and rare occurrence in the Rangers/Bruins game last night, the simultaneous high stick: