Senators win marathon to stall march of the Penguins

By Steve Keating

PITTSBURGH (Reuters) - Matt Carkner scored seven minutes into the third overtime period as the Ottawa Senators kept their Stanley Cup hopes alive with a marathon 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday.

Trailing the best-of-seven Eastern conference quarter-final 3-1 and facing the defending Stanley Cup champions on home ice, Ottawa were given little chance of extending the series.

But the Senators refused to fold, outlasting the Penguins to force a Game Six back in Ottawa on Saturday.

With the clock ticking toward midnight, Carkner ended the drama nearly five hours after the opening faceoff when his slap shot from just inside the blueline slipped past Penguins netminder Marc-Andre Fleury sending a silent sell-out crowd spilling into the night.

Mike Fisher, Jarkko Ruutu and Peter Regin scored in regulation for the Senators while Pascal Leclaire made 56 saves to register his first post-season win.

(Editing by Patrick Johnston)