Pittsburgh Penguins Rout Ottawa Senators in Game 4
The Pittsburgh Penguins took care of business on Wednesday night by thrashing the Ottawa Senators 7-3 in Game 4 at Scotiabank Place.
Sidney Crosby and company now hold a commanding 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal and can close out the series in Pittsburgh on Friday.
James Neal and Jerome Iginla led the way with two goals each while Crosby, Pascal Dupuis, and Chris Kunitz also scored for the Penguins.
It was the Sens though that came out flying in the opening period, and they took the lead just 2:29 into the game through Milan Michalek. Kyle Turris then restored Ottawa’s advantage less than two minutes after Neal had tied things up.
However, Pittsburgh stormed back with two goals from Kunitz and Iginla in the first 1:48 of the second period to take a 3-2 lead that it would not relinquish.
Crosby commended his team for not hanging their heads after the opening 20 minutes and said they knew the goals would come eventually.
“It would have been easy to get frustrated after the first period with how that went and the chances we created,” he stated.
“We trusted the way we played and ended up getting some goals. It’s always great to see your teammates have success.”
Special teams play then helped the Penguins pull away in the third frame as Neal scored his second of the game on the power play before Dupuis took the air out of the building with a short-handed goal.
Crosby and Iginla also found the back of the net before Daniel Alfredsson scored a consolation goal late in the final period.
Alfredsson wasn’t too concerned about the heavy defeat though and expects his team to exact a measure of revenge in Game 5.
“I know what we are going to do,” he said. “We are going to go out and play one hell of a game. That doesn’t worry me at all. We never quit and that’s not going to stop now.”
It remains to be seen whether the Ottawa Senators will stave off elimination when they travel to the Consol Energy Center to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
