Penguins blown out by Senators

It certainly would be convenient to blame Marc-Andre Fleury after the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 5-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final on Wednesday night.

He’s literally their last line of defense, an easy target. If the opposing team scores on four of its first nine shots on goal, as the Senators did in this one, sure, go ahead, toss that guy under the bus.

But placing the blame for this dud at Fleury’s skates is not only inaccurate, but it’s wasted energy. There are other problems. Serious ones. And if the Penguins don’t solve them, it will be equally as useless to fantasize about Sidney Crosby passing the Stanley Cup to Fleury in early June.

Crosby scored for the first time in eight games in the third period, a garbage-time goal. Conor Sheary hasn’t scored in 14, Chris Kunitz 10 and Jake Guentzel four. Hardly ideal production from four of your top six forwards, the late goal assuaging some frustration over Crosby’s recent lack of goals.

Bottom-six production has lacked, too. Matt Cullen doesn’t have a point in six games. Nick Bonino has gone without a goal in nine. Until Crosby’s goal, the power play had been bad as well, his nifty stick play in front snapping a 2-for-25 funk for that unit.

Game 4 is Friday in Ottawa, when the Penguins will try to climb out of a 2-1 series deficit.

The toll the Penguins’ current injuries have exacted has started to become more evident.

Consider, the Penguins played this one without Kris Letang and Justin Schultz, arguably two of their best puck-moving defensemen. Brian Dumoulin and Trevor Daley, who returned from a fourgame absence, aren’t 100 percent.

Chad Ruhwedel gave the Penguins quality regular-season minutes, but now he’s being asked to play postseason hockey, something he’s never done in his NHL career. In fact, Ruhwedel logged just five NHL games between 2014-16.

Mark Streit jumped into the lineup Wednesday and looked every bit like a 39-year-old who hadn’t played since April 9, getting beat badly on the Senators’ third goal.

Team-wise, the Penguins ran into their fair share of hiccups Wednesday. They mustered just 26 shots on goal, too many of them from the outside, as the Senators continued to insulate goaltender Craig Anderson.

It’s a sound strategy that has worked for them thus far, and it has helped keep the Penguins’ top-six forwards quiet.

Crosby had 10 shots on goal in his last seven games before Wednesday. Sheary had one or none in eight of his 13 playoff games before Game 3. Olli Maatta (13 shots on goal) had been more of an offensive threat than Guentzel (eight) and Bonino (10) over the previous seven games.

Doesn’t matter who, though. The Penguins, a puck-possession team under coach Mike Sullivan and the regular season shots on goal leaders, have to do better.

It only took 48 seconds for the ugliness of the evening to unfold, to see that Fleury’s puck-tracking was suspect and he lacked a certain feel in goal.

When a puck took a meaty bounce off the end boards, Mike Hoffman was there to put it past Fleury for a 1-0 Senators lead.

Marc Methot made it 2-0 at 10:34 off another odd bounce. He pinched at the left point, fired a shot off Fleury’s shoulder that later hit Ian Cole’s skate or shin pad before going in.

Derick Brassard stretched the Senators lead to 3-0 at 12:28 of the first when he slipped behind Streit, playing his first game since April 9, and picked up a gorgeous backdoor pass from Clarke MacArthur.

Zack Smith’s wraparound goal at 12:52 of the opening period meant a 4-0 lead and curtains for Fleury, who allowed four goals on nine shots.

The situation was as devastating as it was surprising; in his last five playoff starts at Ottawa, Fleury went 5-0 with a 2.13 goals-against average and a .920 save percentage.

By the time Matt Murray allowed a goal to Kyle Turris at 18:18 of the third period, this one was long over. Crosby’s power-play goal at 6:07 did little to change that.

The Penguins began the game winners in seven of 10 postseason games all-time in Ottawa. They had won their last 14 playoff games when Crosby scored a goal and had won eight consecutive Game 3s in a road on the road, the series tied at one game apiece.

A few weird bounces changed that. So did again relying on a group of players who looked tired, having been asked to repeatedly overcome an avalanche of injuries.

So freak out over Fleury, if you wish.

But the reality is that the problem is much, much bigger than one performance in goal, and if the issues aren’t fixed soon, the Penguins will soon find themselves on the golf course.

(Pittsburgh Post-Gazette/TNS)