OTTAWA -- Awaking yesterday at home in bed wasn't the hardest part, despite the damp and temperatures just above freezing -- 2 Celsius, or roughly 35.6 degrees Fahrenheit for folks south of the border.

Rather, the trying time was awaking yesterday at home in bed to the concussive wake-up call that their Friday nightmare was all too real.

Yes, the Senators rallied valiantly from a three-goal deficit in Game 2, only to lose yet again.

Yes, they fell behind by 0-2 in this best-of-seven series.

Yes, they keep on finding new ways to lose.

"It's unfortunate the way the game ended," Jason Spezza mustered. "Definitely."

"Going back to Ottawa," Martin Lapointe said of the series. "We're not dead yet."

For those counting at home, these star-crossed Senators have lost three in a thudding row, six of their past seven games, nine of their past 12 and a whole bunch since Lightning struck in early January -- an overtime victory against Tampa that was only one of 19 triumphs in their past 44 games, and counting.

What was so arduous and challenging and, well, frustrating on a lightning-filled Friday in Pittsburgh was that Ottawa finally found a way to score after being shut out in three of five previous games and 91-plus consecutive minutes by a Marc-Andre Fleury without a previous playoff shutout until this week. Ottawa found a way to solve the pesky Penguins, erasing a 3-0 deficit in relatively short order -- just 33 seconds after the Penguins' third -- with two even-strength goals by grinders sandwiching a power-play tally.

For 10 minutes in Game 2's frenetic third period, the Senators were on an even footing with the offensive Penguins, perhaps even gathering more scoring chances than a gifted home team that threw a record number of playoff shots for the Penguins and against the Senators, 54.

So that's what they packed and lugged home to Canada's capital, to the Scotiabank Place where this Eastern Conference quarterfinals heads into Game 3 tomorrow night in suburban Kanata. They carry with them not so much their emotional baggage -- they're hoping that got lost in transit -- but the rare good vibes they generated in Game 2. They scored. They rallied. They played the Penguins evenly, if not even better.

"To lose on a questionable call when it seemed like the refs put the whistles away, it's tough," Dany Heatley said of the Martin Lapointe high-sticking penalty with just one minute, 14 seconds remaining in a tenuous, 3-3 playoff game. Twelve seconds later, Ryan Malone swept around the left post and beat a scrambling, shot-weary Martin Gerber for the winner. Malone added an empty netter with seven seconds left to seal the deal. "I'm frustrated we're down, 2-0. You know, they got home-ice advantage. They won two games in their building. Now they have to come to our building."

"Obviously, we've got to take a positive out of it," Lapointe said, referring to the Senators' play toward game's end. "A lot of positive things. Just good to get back to Ottawa, win that [Game 3] and start there."

As simple as it may sound, their slight turnaround started in Friday's second period, when they graciously permitted a team playoff-record 20 shots for the second period in a row. For some reason, it seemed as if they suddenly decided to commence moving briskly about the ice and rattling Fleury's cage.

"We started skating," said Cory Stillman, who was awarded the Senators' middle goal when Heatley threw a puck toward the net and a couple of Ottawa players converged quickly, pushing it underneath Fleury and ending his personal playoff-record shutout string. "We've got to continue to do that."

"We saw we can play together," Gerber added, a reference to a team torn asunder by injuries to star-captain Daniel Alfredsson and center Mike Fisher. "When we put everything out there, we can score goals and be as good as them. We just have to believe."

"'Battle' is the big word," continued Heatley. "The guys battled real hard. We were down 3-nothing against a talented team."

Still, they're down two games to love. Reality hits home starting tomorrow night. "We're looking forward to Game 3," Stillman said. "We win that, it's 2-1."