‘Boring’ Senators stick to the script
OTTAWA — Mike Hoffman and his Ottawa Senators teammates heard all the chatter on social media about their style of play, which some perceived as “boring”.
Their response? Well, LOL. And another big W.
Marc Methot, Derick Brassard and Zack Smith scored in a 2:18 span midway through the first period to chase goalie Marc-Andre Fleury as the Senators whipped the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in their NHL Eastern Conference final.
Hoffman opened the scoring after just 48 seconds and the Senators blew it open against the sluggish Penguins a few minutes later with the fastest three goals in their playoff history.
Kyle Turris made it 5-0 late in the second period.
“If we played the kind of run-and-gun game that some people would rather watch, we probably wouldn’t be here,” Hoffman said after routing the defending Stanley Cup champs.
Sidney Crosby ended Craig Anderson’s shutout bid with a powerplay goal in the third. Pittsburgh has scored just once in each game in the series, dropping the opener 2-1 in overtime and winning the second 1-0.
“It was a bad start,” Crosby said. “You don’t want to get down at any point, but to get down 4-0 is digging a pretty big hole.”
Anderson finished with 25 saves. Fleury allowed four goals on nine shots before being replaced by Matthew Murray, who made 19 saves.
Game 4 is on Friday night in Ottawa.
Senators coach Guy Boucher has insisted on an extremely defensive style from the day he took the reins last May.
It took until December for the team to fully embrace it, but that’s when everyone knew where they needed to be on the ice and what their responsibility was.
“At this level, you do what the coach says,” said Hoffman, who played for Boucher in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.
“We’re workers here. We don’t decide which system is put in place. We just have to go out there and execute it and do our job.”
Hosting their first Eastern Conference final game in 10 years, the Sens came out flying. Hoffman got it going by capitalizing on Turris’ shot that bounced awkwardly wide of the goal.
Standing to the left of the crease, Hoffman stuffed his just between the post and Fleury’s right pad.
Brassard got the first of his three points on the night when he snatched Erik Karlsson’s dump-in and swung wide of the Pittsburgh goal. Bobby Ryan eventually gained possession down low and found Methot with a crafty pass.
His initial shot was stopped, but the rebound bounced off Penguins defenseman Ian Cole and into the net. It was the second goal of the playoffs for Methot after he went scoreless in 68 games during the regular season.
Brassard added his fourth goal of the postseason less than two minutes later, taking advantage of the Senators’ offensive zone pressure before slipping behind the aging Mark Streit for the shot that beat Fleury.
“We’re not bothered by what’s said about our team,” Brassard said. “Our focus is on what we need to do.”