The Pittsburgh Penguins will attempt to polish off their Eastern Conference semifinal series with the Ottawa Senators on their home ice tonight, after blasting the Senators for four third period goals in Game 4. The puck drops tonight at 7:30 p.m., and will be televised on NBC Sports Network. Game 5 can be live streamed here for free, while Penguins fans can listen to the action at 105.9 The X and Senators fans can hear the action at The Team 1200.
Senators fans were alarmed by seemingly down and out comments made by Ottawa captain Daniel Alfredsson. The captain was asked about whether the Senators would come back from the 3-1 deficit after Game 4's bludgeoning.
Alfredsson responded at the time, "Probably not. [Pittsburgh's] depth and our play right now ... it doesn't look too good." Now, Alfredsson has been clarifying his statement, and said he was talking about the prevailing perception of the series situation.
"It sounds like I had given up (from what I hear)," Alfredsson said. "If you ask anyone, and they look at our series, I don't think there's too many people that would pick us right now and that's what I meant."
Alfredsson would do well to keep the faith. Pittsburgh is 0-6 in home, series-clinching playoff games under coach Dan Bylsma; two seasons ago the Penguins had the Tampa Bay Lightning in the same 3-1 hole, only to drop the next three games and allow the Lightning to advance. Penguins forward Matt Cooke acknowledged the difficulty of putting away playoff-caliber teams with their backs against the wall.
"The fourth win in a series is always the hardest to get," Cooke said. "They become most desperate and emotionally attached to games." Bylsma preached a similar message, saying, "They'll be coming in with that mentality to stretch this series back to Ottawa," Bylsma said. "I think we have to be focused on playing our best home game of the playoffs."
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