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Playoffs Tonight: Senators confident they can beat Penguins

James Neal

OTTAWA, CANADA - MAY 19: James Neal #18 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates with the puck against Andre Benoit #61 of the Ottawa Senators in Game Three of the Eastern Conference Semifinals during the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Scotiabank Place on May 19, 2013 in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Francois Laplante/NHLI via Getty Images)

The San Jose Sharks and Los Angeles Kings were dominate in their own building during the regular season, so it’s not surprising that the home team has won every game of their second-round series. With their series now essentially a best-of-three, the onus is on the Sharks to win at least one playoff contest at the Staples Center.

In the meantime though...

Ottawa Senators host Pittsburgh Penguins (7:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN/Live Extra)
Pittsburgh leads series 2-1

The Senators certainly lived up to their “pesky” label in Game 3. Pittsburgh nearly went up 3-0 in the series, but a shorthanded goal from Daniel Alfredsson with just 29 seconds left in regulation time tied the contest at 1. Colin Greening then netted the deciding goal for Ottawa at 7:39 of the second overtime period.

“We find ways — they aren’t always pretty — but we find ways to win,” Ottawa Senators goaltender Craig Anderson told the Ottawa Citizen.

Now they have to find a way to do it again.

Alfredsson’s dramatic goal was only relevant because, for the first time in this series, the Senators found a way to contain the Penguins’ skilled forwards.

Sidney Crosby, who had a hat trick in Game 2, was held to just three shots on goal despite logging 33:08 minutes of ice time. Evgeni Malkin had 10 shots on goal, but Anderson consistently denied him to end Malkin’s nine-game points streak.

It will be interesting to see if Crosby and Malkin are both held off the scoresheet for a second straight game, but perhaps the bigger x-factor is James Neal. The 25-year-old forward has 61 goals in his last 120 regular season games, but he has just one goal and three points in the 2013 postseason. If he can get hot now, it would take some of the burden off of Malkin and Crosby going forward.

Meanwhile, the Senators are entering this game with a lot of confidence.

“You have to believe you belong here,” said defenseman Marc Methot. “Otherwise, what the hell are you doing? I can’t stress enough that guys in this room do believe that we can win. We just knocked off the second seed (the Montreal Canadiens) in the first round.”