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Game 2 key for Sens: Analyst – Metro US

Game 2 key for Sens: Analyst

Bill Berg was a decent player in the NHL but he’s a considerably better analyst — and that should worry the Senators.

That’s because Berg made it clear yesterday that he didn’t think the Sens — despite a superb effort in their 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh

Penguins Wednesday night — stand any chance of prevailing when the Sens and Pens line up for the second game of their series tomorrow.

In fact, even though the Sens are heavily favoured over the Pens — and even though CBC luminary Don Cherry thinks Ottawa is en route to the Stanley Cup final — Berg is not convinced that the team is for real.

“I think the Penguins will bounce back in Game 2,” Berg said. “I want to see Game 2 because I think that’ll be a true measure of their series.”

History, by the way, is on the Pens’ side. You see, not once in their existence have the Sens won the second game of a playoff series after taking the opener.

•Pittsburgh’s dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Jordan Staal, by the way, established themselves on Wednesday as only the third set of teenagers in NHL history to score goals for the same team in a playoff game.

Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier, not a bad tandem themselves during their teenhood, accomplished the feat with the 1980 Edmonton Oilers, while Greg Hawgood and Glen Wesley did it with the ’88 Boston Bruins.

•The Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Stars combined for only 11 goals in their four games this entire season, matching the lowest goals-per-game average for any NHL squads that met twice during the regular season, and yet they produced nine in their series opener Wednesday night, a thriller that ended in quadruple overtime yesterday morning.

And the truth is, neither the Canucks’ Roberto Luongo nor the Stars’ Marty Turco were all that bad.

Sources tell me Luongo was visibly nervous before and even during his first playoff game.

“He’ll calm down,” a Canuck told me. “And, when he does, we can win his series in four or maybe five games.”

•So much for the Raptors’ Andrea Bargnani being chosen the NBA’s top rookie this season.

“The rookie of the year is (Portland guard) Brandon Roy, easy,” said ex-NBA-star-turned-TV-analyst Reggie Miller.

And his cohort, Charles Barkley, concurred, saying: “Roy’s the only rookie who’s done anything of note this year, to be honest with you. Not to be mean or anything, but…”

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