Rout starts early with 3 quick scores
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 Pittsburgh goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and the Senators beat the Penguins 5-1 on Wednesday night to take a 2-1 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.
Hoffman opened the scoring 48 seconds in, and the Senators blew it open against the sluggish Penguins a few minutes later with the fastest three goals in team playoff history. Kyle Turris made it 5-0 late in the second period.
“If we played a run-and-gun game that maybe some people would rather watch, we probably wouldn’t be here,” Hoffman said. “So we use our assets and that’s what works.”
Sidney Crosby ended Craig Anderson’s shutout bid with a power-play goal in the third. Pittsburgh has scored one goal in each game in the series.
“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, and Matthew Murray made 19 saves in relief.
Game 4 is Friday night in Ottawa.
The Sens came out flying. Hoffman got it going by capitalizing on Turris’ shot that bounced awkwardly wide of the goal. Hoffman stuffed the shot.
Halfway through the period, Bobby Ryan found Methot with a crafty pass. After his initial shot was stopped, the rebound bounced off Pittsburgh defenseman Ian Cole and into the net.
Brassard added his fourth goal of the postseason less than two minutes later, and Smith scored his first 24 seconds after that.