After A Strong Game 3 Win, Penguins Will Look To Take Series Command In Game 4

Going into game 3 of their Eastern Conference Quarterfinal series against the Ottawa Senators, the Pittsburgh Penguins were sure to face a hostile crowd in a building that houses the team with the 6th best home record in the NHL this season.

And raucous the crowd was.

For about 77 seconds.

That's when the Penguins began reminding everyone that they are a strong road team.

Pittsburgh RW Alexei Ponikarovsky got a little bit of the monkey off his back by opening up the scoring and quieting Scotiabank Place at that point of the first period, and the Penguins used that as a jumping-off point to roll to a demonstrative 4-2 victory and 2-1 series lead on Sunday night.

After the Senators tied the game early in the 2nd period on a Mike Fisher power play goal, the Pens took over, with tallies by their big guns, Evgeni Malkin -- on a play made possible by a hustling max talbot -- and Sidney Crosby.

Crosby's goal, in particular, hurt the Senators because it came late in the period and was another signature effort by the Penguins' Captain.

Crosby took the puck from the corner and cut right to the high-traffic area in front of the goal, leaving Sens' defenseman Andy Sutton in the dust and holding the puck for what seemed like an eternity before he drew down Ottawa netminder Brian Elliott and then deposited the puck upstairs for a 3-1 Pittsburgh advantage.

When Pens' veteran Bill Guerin undressed Elliott on a breakway about 5 minutes into the 3rd period for a 4-1 edge, the game was over -- notwithstanding Matt Cullen's power play tally later in the frame.

And so, as the teams get ready for always the biggest potential swing game in any series -- game 4 -- tonight, many questions loom for the Senators.

First and foremost of those is whether their two stars, Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson, are giong to score a goal or even come close to the impact that Crosby and Malkin have had on this series for Pittsburgh.

To wit:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/penguins/s_677261.html

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/allan_muir/04/19/pens.sens.game3/index.html?xid=siextra_041910

For his part, Crosby now has 7 points in 3 games in this series and leads the league in playoff scoring.

So much for the Senators' history of shutting him down.

For their part, it's obvious that if Speeza and Alfredsson don't contribute -- and soon -- the Senators will be done quickly in this series. And I'm not the only one who feels that way:

http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/columnists/don_brennan/2010/04/19/13644641.html

The other very interesting aspect of this series so far has been how strong defensively the Penguins have been.

They've limited the Senators to around 20 shots in each of game 2 and game 3, and that's making it hard for Ottawa to capitalize. The Penguins have done an especially good job getting the puck out of their zone quickly the last few games and, when they have not, they've been getting in the shooting and passing lanes to limit good scoring chances from the Sens.

The best part is that all 20 guys are doing that for Pittsburgh, from defenseman Jay McKee -- who joined the lineup for game 3 when Jordan Leopold stayed in Pittsburgh after what is believed to be a concussion on the Sutton hit in game 2 -- all the way up to Crosby.

#87, in particular, has been especially stout defensively in this series. He has 5 takeaways thusfar and is doing a great job creating offense starting in his own zone. Here's a great piece on how good Sid has been on the 'other' side of the puck:

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=526184

The one area Pittsburgh could be better in is killing penalties. Ottawa is burning them hard on the power play thusfar. After killing around an 83% clip in the regular season, the Pens are allowing goals at nearly a 50% rate when down a man.

That has to change.

Meanwhile, the Senators are supposedly considering lineup changes tonight, including -- but perhaps not limited to -- sitting forward Ryan Shannon, who joined the lineup earlier in the series after Milan Michalek's season ended with a torn ACL, in place of former 50-goal scorer Jonathan Cheechoo, who's been playing in the American Hockey League after putting up a miserable 14 points in 66 games with the Senators before the Olympics this year.

Some observers are starting to see Pittsburgh's dominance in this series. For example:

http://www.ottawasun.com/sports/hockey/2010/04/19/13643061.html

I, for one, am not ready to go there at this point. While I'm glad the Penguins are on the right side of the 2-1 ledger right now, they have no room to get complacent. If the Senators win tonight, everything starts over. Pittsburgh needs a big effort this evening and, if they get it, they'll be in a strong position to close out Ottawa back in their barn on Thursday night in game 5.

We'll see how it plays out.

Recap tomorrow.

Let's Go Pens!