PITTSBURGH VS OTTAWA
CANADIAN TIRE CENTRE – OTTAWA, CA
8:00 PM EST. NBCSN
PENS LEAD 3-2
The Pens are now one win away from a second consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. All that stands between them and the Nashville Predators is one more victory over the Ottawa Senators.
It was about time the Pens boat raced Ottawa. After struggling with the trap and clutch and grab bullshit the Sens were trying to pull the Pens have flipped momentum in the series. Half the blueline is still dead in a tomb somewhere, but it hasn’t mattered, because Ottawa doesn’t actually try to do anything until they’re already down 3-0. If Guy Boucher was the captain of the Titanic he would have plowed into the iceberg intentionally because you gotta stay the course.
— Geoff Holtzman (@Geoff_Holtzman) May 21, 2017
You can’t totally count out the Sens because there’s still hockey to be played and hockey is pretty fucking weird sometimes. It’s hard to not love be in love with the direction it looks like this Pens team is going right now though. Slowly getting healthier (Bryan Rust looked like a new man after a few days off) and raising their level of play as the series has worn on.
Crosby and Malkin look unstoppable, the powerplay is doing stuff, the defense is like that piece of shit car you had in your 20’s – you know any day it might engulf you in a ball of flames, but it just got you to work on time again and the tape deck isn’t even wobbly this week. Things are looking up.
It still takes one more win to get back to the dance and Ottawa is sure to bring it on home ice.
Lol #ALLIN
Lines: Schultz was healthy enough to take warm-up in game 5 so he’s at least looking like a return is coming sooner than later. Hornqvist skated before practice on Monday and still looks to be doubtful.
My Sens lines have been off all series because I honestly know like 6 guys on their team.
Pittsburgh:
Kunitz-Crosby-Guentzel
Wilson-Malkin-Kessel
Rust-Bonino-Rowney
Hagelin-Cullen-Archibald
Dumoulin-Hainsey
Maatta-Daley
Streit-Cole
Murray-Fleury
Ottawa:
MacArthur-Turris-Booby
Brassard-Smith-Stone
Hoffman-Roloff-Pyatt
Stalburg-Savage-Harpur
Methot-Karlsson
Phaneuf-Ceci
Claesson-Wideman
Anderson-Condom
The Sens have done everything they can to get under the Pens skin this series. The 1-3-1, Phunuff running around being a dickhead, Karlsson even trying to troll Crosby for talking to his teammates, but it hasn’t mattered. After a while, even in hockey, skill wins out.
That’s how the Pens have to approach game 6. There’s still work to be done and they need to bring that edge to their game, but approach it with the knowledge they’ve gained these past two games that the Sens just can’t skate with them. Get an early goal, keep skating, close the damn casket.
Ottawa’s over stayed their welcome. Time to put their fans and the rest of Canada pretending they’re relevant out of their collective misery.
Do it
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