Senators chase Fleury, rout Penguins 5-1 in Game 3

It’s the conference finals.

Game 4 is Friday night in Ottawa. That was Turris’ fourth goal of the playoffs.

Ottawa leads the best-of-seven series, 2-1. As I said, these decisions are very hard. Head coach Mike Sullivan will likely make it a game-time decision, but honestly don’t be surprised either way. Schultz had taken over the responsibility of being the primary puck mover, quarterbacking the power play while delivering on the two-way promise he flirted with but never showcased with any consistency during three-plus years in Edmonton. So are we appreciative of the contributions that all of our guys make, Marc included?

“You just try and play everything and just kind of get the feel back a little bit”, he said after practice on Thursday. In the regular season, Pittsburgh opponents only held them under 2 goals on only 14 occasions.

“Marc was a professional like he always is”, Sullivan said of Fleury being told of the decision. “These guys have both helped us win games”. These guys are both competitors.

“They’re both high-quality people and they’re high-quality goaltenders. We didn’t. But they all seemed to go in the net”. Losing Game 4 would be a serious blow to the Penguins’ chances against the Senators, especially as Pittsburgh would find themselves in a 3-1 hole against a team that has the ability to score early and sit on a lead. Coming off of the high from game three’s win, expect Josi to come out flying again tonight.

Sidney Crosby replied for the Penguins, who trailed 5-0 after two periods.

Methot can be nasty and he isn’t shy about throwing his body around. Bad positioning by Penguin defenders allowed Ottawa to have more discretion in the offensive zone, something the Sens didn’t hesitate to take advantage of. We know what Murray has done in the past, he’s risen to the occasion. Rookie Jake Guentzel’s nine playoff goals are tied for the league lead but he hasn’t broken through against Ottawa.

He has changed his tune now, but he did play the underdog card in the last series against the New York Rangers and, this time, he has just talked about the fact that he has nothing but respect for the Penguins. But this has been a resilient group under Sullivan. “They’ve been here. So, they know a thing or two about composure as well”.

“It was a bad start”, Crosby said. “We had everything. If you wanted to play tough, we could play tough”. “It’s not going to go 16 games in a row perfectly”.

Kunitz: “I think any scoring would be good”. He has been vocal throughout the playoffs, as have other veterans on the roster, about staying the course. I’ll go back and see the therapists.

“When (Kent) Nilsson got here, I think we went 10-1 in the regular season”, Lowe said. It’s going to be a hard-fought series. And if you saw the first two games of this series in a vacuum, you wouldn’t be wrong.

“We’re going to need that from everyone”. Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson (65) defenseman Marc Methot (3) centre Zack Smith (15) centre Jean-Gabriel Pageau (44) and right wing Mark Stone (61) celebrate a goal against the Pittsburgh Penguins.