PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins went up by two games against the Ottawa Senators on Friday night.

A few minutes after the Pittsburgh Penguins looked ready to rout the Ottawa Senators for the second game in a row, they found themselves scrambling to get back a playoff game they were in danger of giving away.

Ryan Malone made sure they didn't blow it, with plenty of help from Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora, and the Penguins head to Ottawa with the 2-0 Eastern Conference playoff lead they fully expected to have before the series began.

Even if this wasn't exactly the way they planned to earn it.

Malone scored the final two goals in less than a minute's time, just when it appeared the game was headed to overtime, and the Penguins recovered for a 5-3 victory Friday night after squandering a big lead at home against the Senators for the second time in a matter of weeks.

The Penguins were 4-0 winners in Game 1, then opened a 3-0 lead in Game 2, and it easily could have been more given their team-record 54 shots. Yet it took Crosby's deft playmaking and a timely decision by Malone with the Penguins on a late power play to keep Ottawa from tying the series.

"It wasn't fun (giving up the lead), but we never gave up," said Jarkko Ruutu, who drew the high-sticking penalty that led to Malone's go-ahead power play goal with 62 seconds remaining. "They had a little moment there, and we kind of let them get back in the game, but we felt strong the last five or 10 minutes.

"It's going to happen in the playoffs, you're not going to dominate every minute," he said.

Even if the Penguins did exactly that during the first 70 minutes of the series as Sykora scored twice off Malkin passes and Crosby assisted on two of Pittsburgh's three goals, making it 3-0 midway through the second period. At that point, Pittsburgh had outscored Ottawa 7-0 in the two games.

The Senators looked like a beaten team, only to stage a rally that might have dramatically altered the momentum of the series, especially with the next two games in Ottawa.

Shean Donovan and Cory Stillman scored less than five minutes apart in the second period and Cody Bass tied it about nine minutes into the third.

"We regrouped, started skating and got some goaltending (from Martin Gerber)," Stillman said.

In the Senators' last regular season game in Pittsburgh on Feb. 23, they trailed 3-0 only to win 4-3 on currently injured captain Daniel Alfredsson's goal with four seconds remaining in overtime.

Only they couldn't win this one, and they must now sweep the next two games in Ottawa to tie the series.

Game 3 is Monday and Game 4 is Wednesday, the only two games in the next seven days as Game 5, if necessary, won't be until April 19 in Pittsburgh. The Senators have never won any of the six previous playoff rounds in which they trailed 2-0, including last season's five-game Stanley Cup finals against Anaheim.

"We're going back to Ottawa and we're not dead yet," Martin Lapointe said. "We're down 2-0, but I saw a lot of positive things and some character. We have to go back to Ottawa, win there and start from there."

Ottawa looked ready to go to overtime Friday but Lapointe, moved up to the first line, poked Ruutu's eye with his stick with 1:14 remaining to put Pittsburgh on its sixth power play. The Penguins went 3-for-6 with the man advantage.

Crosby controlled the puck after the faceoff, fought off defenseman Anton Volchenkov in the corner and got it to Marian Hossa for a backhander. Malone grabbed the rebound, went behind the net and -- rather than trying to beat Gerber inside the near post -- stretched out to stuff a wraparound inside the far post.

"Sid threw the puck on net like we were trying to all night, Hoss tipped it and Gerber was out a little bit, so I was trying to beat him inside," Malone said. "I don't think we got comfortable (after leading 3-0). ... Nobody panicked. We figured that if we kept on going, we were getting enough chances and we'd get one in sooner or later."

Malone added an empty-net goal with seven seconds remaining.

The Penguins -- still one of the NHL's youngest teams -- likely wouldn't have made this comeback a year ago, when the Senators dominated them in a five-game opening round series. But these Penguins are more poised and confident, as evidenced by the combined 10 points so far by stars Malkin (1 goal, 5 assists) and Crosby (4 assists).

"One year's experience is a big deal," Malkin said. "I feel much more comfortable now."

Win the next two games, the Senators said, and it might be Pittsburgh that suddenly feels uncomfortable.

"It's a step, we're down 2-0 but we're going home and we're looking forward to Game 3," Stillman said. "If we win Game 3, it's a 2-1 series."