Stanley Cup playoffs: Penguins' Crosby used to Senators' Volchenkov, Phillips
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Penguins captain Sidney Crosby is familiar with Senators defenseman Chris Phillips.
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There is a lot that is familiar about the Penguins' first-round opponent in the 2010 playoffs. This is the third time in the past four years they have opened against Ottawa, with Game 1 tonight at Mellon Arena.
Yet there does not seem to be the contempt that encompasses Penguins series against Philadelphia, Washington or Detroit. They are considered staunch rivals. The Senators, not so much.
"When you're playing Detroit, it's in the final, not the first round," Penguins general manager Ray Shero offered Tuesday.
"With Philadelphia, we play them six times [in the regular season] every year and we've played them a ton in the playoffs," said Penguins center and leading scorer Sidney Crosby.
And Washington? There has only been one playoff meeting between the teams in recent years, but that matchup pits Crosby against Capitals star Alex Ovechkin.
With the Senators - who won in five games in the first round in 2007, then were swept by the Penguins in 2008 - there is one key matchup, although it lacks the pizzazz of Crosby-Ovechkin.
At the time of year when coaches and players guard their game plan and hedge about personnel matters, everyone is clear that in this series Ottawa will sic the hulking shutdown defensive pairing of Anton Volchenkov and Chris Phillips against Crosby's line.
"I've always played against them," Crosby said. "That's pretty much all I've really gotten used to."
Volchenkov, 6 feet 1, 226 pounds, and Phillips, 6-3, 216, have been with the Senators longer than Crosby has been in the NHL. Although Crosby's numbers against Ottawa are good - 7 goals, 26 points in 26 games, including playoffs - there have been stretches when he has been neutralized.
He had three assists in one 2009-10 regular-season meeting, but was held without a point in the other three games and had a collective plus-minus rating of minus-3.
No wonder Senators coach Cory Clouston pushed aside the cloak of secrecy when asked about pushing to get the defensive matchups he wanted.
"The games that we had success against them, that was the big area, that we wanted to make sure that we had our defensive pairings," Clouston said. "You're not always going to get that. We know that."
First Published April 14, 2010 12:02 am
