Some stars crumble when the playoff pressure hits. Sidney Crosby seems to just play even better. Two goals and two assists from the Pens captain keyed a 7-4 Pittsburgh victory in Ottawa on Tuesday and put Ottawa in a deep hole heading back to Pittsburgh for Game 5.
Sid got his first point of the night on the powerplay, setting up a play for Malkin on the sideboards, which the big Russian blew past Brian Elliott to put the Penguins up 1-0. Crosby then set off a wild 2nd period with a bullet of a wrist shot on a broken rush for the puck that he fired up under the crossbar. The Penguins poured it on quickly, as Matt Cooke scored just 12 seconds later to put the Pens up 3-0. Crosby would strike again, this time sending Elliott to the bench with a wrist shot that beat the Ottawa goalie to the far post.
Ottawa made it a bit interesting after the goalie change, as Chris Neil jammed home a loose puck to finally get his club on the board, and Daniel Alfredsson blew home a one timer a few minutes later to cut the Penguins’ lead to two. Max Talbot put a dagger in the heart of any comeback with his shorthanded goal, stretching to poke in a shot from Craig Adams and put the Penguins back up by 3. On the same powerplay, Matt Cullen was left alone on the weak side and gave the Ottawa fans life yet again, until Chris Kunitz scored the ‘Guins’ 6th goal of the night with just under 2 minutes to play in the period.
Jason Spezza would add a goal in the 3rd, but just to make sure there was no question about the end result, Jordan Staal scored a powerplay goal to rule out any possible chance of a comeback. Pascal Leclaire, who finished the game in net for the Sens, will get the start for them in Game 5 at Pittsburgh, and they’ll have to hope he’s got some magic in his pads to shut down Crosby and Malkin and the rest of the potent Pittsburgh offense, or they’ll be done in a hurry.