Resilient Penguins head home with momentum for today’s Game 5
PITTSBURGH — The situation looked dire. On the road. Down a game. Starting a goalie that hadn’t been on the ice for an opening faceoff in nearly six weeks.
Yet the Pittsburgh Penguins responded the way they’ve always responded since Mike Sullivan took over as head coach nearly 18 months ago: like champions.
Their 3-2 victory over Ottawa in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference final on Friday provided yet another reminder of both Sullivan’s expert button-pushing and his team’s ability to brush off listless performances and react by playing with the kind of efficient brilliance that is difficult to match let alone beat.
Instead of flying home on the brink of elimination, the Penguins appear to have their Stanley Cup-winning mojo back heading into today’s Game 5.
Same as it ever was under Sullivan, who is 12-2 following a playoff loss with the Penguins.
“These guys have been here before,” Sullivan said Saturday morning. “They understand it. They understand what’s at stake.”
It certainly looked like it on Friday during three periods that looked like a carbon copy of how Pittsburgh sprinted to the franchise’s fourth championship last spring.
Sidney Crosby getting to the front of the net for an important goal.
Goaltender Matt Murray turning aside 24 shots in his first start since April 6.
The Penguins scoring three crowd-draining goals, then holding on late.
“A good chunk of us have played together for a while, been through different situations,” Crosby said. “I think everyone relies on each other. There’s a certain level of confidence that in different situations the group will respond.”
It’s an advantage that is difficult to quantify but easy to spot. Pittsburgh pumped out 35 shots, its highest total in a regulation playoff game this spring.
The jump that the Penguins lacked while getting drilled in a 5-1 Game 3 loss — one that saw Murray take over for an ineffective MarcAndre Fleury — returned, particularly during the opening two periods.
The Penguins pinned the Senators in their end for long stretches and — just as importantly — finally found a way to get more than one puck past Ottawa goaltender Craig Anderson.
The key to Pittsburgh’s chance at returning to the Cup Final for a second straight year will rely heavily on its ability to summon that kind of energy without being hit first by Ottawa.
“We need to find a way to maintain that sense of urgency, that desperation,” Crosby said on Saturday. “We’re deeper into the series now, so that’s got to be there. I think seeing the way we played, hopefully that’s something we can build off of.”
The Senators hardly seem rattled after missing an opportunity to move within one win of the franchise’s first appearance in the Cup Final in a decade.
“I mean, it’s the Stanley Cup champions — the best team in the league,” Ottawa coach Guy Boucher said. “They’re going to make some pushes. They’re going to look good.”
At least two more games remain with three being a serious possibility.
This has become well-trod territory for the Penguins, who beat Tampa Bay in seven games in the Eastern Conference final last year and shut out Washington on the road in Game 7 less than two weeks ago.
The team that once succumbed to the pressure while losing series to lower-seeded teams every year from 2010-14 now appears to thrive off it. It figures to go up another level today.
“This series especially, every game has told a different story,” Pittsburgh forward Carl Hagelin said. “That’s why it’s 2-2 right now. But we’re looking forward to going home and playing Pittsburgh in front of our fans. It’s time for us to take two games in a row.”