 The Penguins opened the playoffs against the 7th @-@ seed Ottawa Senators , in the Eastern Conference quarter @-@ final . In the opening game on April 9 in Pittsburgh 's Mellon Arena , the Penguins defeated the Senators 4 – 0 . In the game , Evgeni Malkin scored his first career playoff goal , Marc @-@ Andre Fleury recorded his first career playoff shutout , Petr Sykora added a goal and Gary Roberts scored twice . In Game 2 , the Penguins took a lead of 3 – 0 following a goal from Sergei Gonchar and two from Sykora . The Senators came back to tie the game in the third period , before Ryan Malone scored twice to give the Penguins their second victory in the series . The Pens scored four unanswered goals from Maxime Talbot , Sidney Crosby , Jordan Staal and Marian Hossa to defeat the Senators 4 – 1 in Game 3 , the first game in Ottawa 's Scotiabank Place . Two days later , the Penguins managed to eliminate the Senators in four games , the only team to do so in the first round . The team got goals from Malkin , Crosby and the series @-@ winner from Jarkko Ruutu in the second period to defeat the Senators , 3 – 1 . The Penguins were the first team to advance from the opening round . The series win was the team 's first since the 2001 Stanley Cup playoffs , and the first sweep of a playoff series in 16 years . 
