Los Penguins de pittsburg necesitaron de un segundo tiempo extra para vencer en el septimo partido de la serie por el titulo de la Conferencia del este a los Senators de Ottawa 3-2, el jueves en la noche en la Arena PPG.
Y fue Chris Kunitz quien logro el gol de la victoria a los 5 minutos y 9 segundos del segundo tiempo extra, para que Los Penguins de Pittsburg, Campeones defensores de la Stanley Cup, avancen a la gran final donde se enfrentaran a Predators de Nashville, comenzando el lunes.
Piitbsurg es ahora, el primer Campeón defensor que regresa al año siguiente a defender su titulo, desde que los Red Wings de Detroit lo hicieran en 1998.
PITTSBURGH — The puck didn’t come off Chris Kunitz’s stick cleanly, so it was floating end over end and appeared to have eyes.
But those often are the kind of crazy shots that end marathon games like this one and make heroes of players like Kunitz, who scored 5:09 into the second overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 victory against the Ottawa Senators in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Final at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.
The Penguins advance to face the Nashville Predators in the Stanley Cup Final, which begins here on Monday. They are the first defending champion to return to the Final since the Detroit Red Wings in 2009 and Kunitz’s goal kept alive their bid to become the first repeat champion since the Red Wings in 1998.
«It’s nice to be able to contribute,» Kunitz said, «but we all know it’s a team game, and we’re all going to have to pull our own weight at some point.»
Although Kunitz’s teammates appreciate what he’d done to help the Penguins get to this point, he might have wondered if he was pulling his weight. He hadn’t scored in the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year before Thursday.