Eastern Conference Final Game Six Hotstove

In game 5, the Penguins didn't just go 100% on the power play, they shot 100% as well. How can the Senators get back to the PK that went 18 times in a row without a goal?

Callum: I mean, play like you're in the late stages of the Eastern Conference Finals? Game 5 was horrendous start to finish, goaltending to forwards. More urgency and better protection in and around the crease will help immensely. But overall, just come to play in Game 6.

Colin: Play better.

Honestly, there's nothing from game five that I can look at, and say "that went well". Any positive in game six would be an improvement, whether that be at even strength, or on special teams. Am I being too harsh?

Callum: You're not being harsh enough. It's verging on disrespectful to come out like that in arguably the biggest game of the year.

Ary: Do we think it's an "effort" thing, though? Dorion and Boucher sold us on bringing in all of these "character" players who have "been there before" to prevent this stuff from happening.

Callum: From Bobby Ryan's inexcusable flyby to Mike Hoffman's lazy passes, from Craig Anderson's poor attempt to get back in his crease to being outshot 36-25 with score effects on their side nearly the entire game - yes, it's about effort.

Ary: Then how should we interpret this? As a failure on the part of the coaching staff to adequately prepare their players? On leadership? As a one-off "oh well"?

nkb: When a team loses 7-0, there's a good chance that more than one thing went wrong: part of it could be attributed to effort, part of it was tactical, part of it was probably bad luck too. When it rains it pours, I suppose. To bring it back to the original question, the Sens PK will need to get as much mileage as they possibly can out of winning face-offs shorthanded and disrupting zone entry plays. Once Pittsburgh is set up and fully in control, it's exceptionally difficult to disrupt them completely. Crosby-Malkin-Kessel each require constant vigilance and attention and all three can break a box down on their own. If Ottawa's going to withstand the Pens' man advantage, they'll need drain away as much time as possible before Pittsburgh can get set up.

Ross: I think "be better" is probably a good analysis.

As for the PP, first off, it can't run 100% for shooting again, right? But really Ottawa could use a save and probably a mental reset to get back on track. Like Callum said, we can't be harsh enough. Like NKB said, you can't pick just one thing that went wrong in a 7-0 loss.