FIRST

trust the process

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan likely knew his remarks after Tuesday's 2-1 loss in Game 6 sounded similar to what Washington coach Barry Trotz and Columbus coach John Tortorella said after setbacks in the previous two rounds of the playoffs.

Zone time, possession time, shots, scoring chances — they all pointed to a dominant Penguins performance. But the scoreboard told a different story.

Sullivan wants the Penguins to trust the performance indicators as they head into Thursday's Game 7 at PPG Paints Arena. Ottawa might defy the odds with its playing style every once in a while, but the Senators are far from safe when they spend too much of the night in their defensive end.

“It's hard to not like a lot of that,” Sullivan said of the Penguins' metrics in Game 6. “The puck didn't go in the net for us (Tuesday), but I believe, if we stay the course there, then pucks will go in.”

The Penguins finished with more than 50 percent of the five-on-five shot attempts in a game five times this postseason, including four instances against Ottawa. They're 2-2 against the Senators in those situations.

They tallied more than 50 percent of the five-on-five shots on goal in a game six times this season, including four against Ottawa, which went 1-3 in those instances.

Senators coach Guy Boucher expressed faith in his team's ability to repeat its means for winning Game 6, when Ottawa trailed 46-30 in shots on goal.

“We have to win the same way,” Boucher said. “There's no other way for us to win. It's exactly the problem of the previous game (Game 5, when Ottawa lost 7-0). We tried to win another way, and we got our butts kicked.”

second

back to average

The Penguins' five-on-five shooting percentage in the playoffs (8.7) has just about settled back to where it hovered during the regular season (8.6). Credit Ottawa for intervening.

In five of their six games against the Senators, the Penguins finished with a five-on-five shooting percentage below 8.6. In Game 6, during which Ottawa goalie Craig Anderson made 45 saves, the Penguins had a five-on-five shooting percentage of 3.2.

“I think you need to be a little bit lucky to be good at times,” Anderson said. “Whether it's a bouncing puck that goes our way, or it's a good play defensively to break up a play, or just being in the right spot at the right time or the guy just missing his shot. So you try to do everything the same, and sometimes you need a little puck luck on your side.”

third

No speeches

If the Eastern Conference finals were a movie, one of the Penguins' star players, perhaps captain Sidney Crosby, would stand up in the locker room and give an impassioned speech designed to psych up his teammates.

In reality, winger Bryan Rust expects nothing of the sort to happen Thursday.

“Guys in the room have been there,” Rust said. “I think guys just go about their normal routines and do what they have to do to be ready. If something needs to be said, it will be, but I'm not sure that's the case.”

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