3-0 One More to Go!!!!!

Pittsburgh knew going into tonight that Ottawa would be fighting for their lives, but they didn't know that Senators captain, Daniel Alfredsson would be in the line up. Alfredsson has killed the Pens over the years, and I was a little scared he would continue his Penguins dominance. I was wrong. Alfredsson was nearly invisible along with teamates Dany Heatlty and Jason Spezza. The only reason Alfredsson dressed for tonight's game was to try to motivate his team, and get them out of this current funk they have been in. The Sens came out flying to a roaring Scotiabank Place crowd, but were not able to reward the "Sens Army" with an early goal. In fact, the first goal did not come until the second period when 18 year old rookie, Nick Foligno scored his first career playoff goal assisted by Jason Spezza. It was an awesome goal, that really brought the arena to life. Nick Foligno wasn't the only player t get his first career playoff goal, Pen's forward Maxime Talbot scored an awesome goal on the backhand which woke the Penguins' bench up. The goal was assisted by Marian Hossa and Pascal Dupuis. The second period came to an end with a score of 1-1, but the Pens were starting to look like the team that won the first two games of the series. The third period started and it did not take Sidney Crosby to make some noise. Crosby broke a Pittsburgh Penguins record for the fastest goal in a period in a playoff game. Greg Malone, father of Pittsburgh Penguin forward Ryan Malone, previously held the record scoring 14 seconds into the period. Crosby beat that record out by 2 seconds giving the Penguins the 2-1 lead. It was Crosby's first of this years playoffs, and it was assisted by Marian Hossa and Robert Scuderi. Scuderi's assist was his first ever NHL post season point. One minute and twenty-eight seconds after Crosby scored, Jordan Staal tallied (1) from Tyler Kennedy and Jarko Ruutu. This was Tyler Kennedy's first ever NHL post season point as well. The game seemed all but over until Marian Hossa decided to get the monkey off his back and score a goal. It was a power play goal and his first of the playoffs, assisted by Sidney Crosby and Ryan Malone. Final Score, Pittsburgh 4, Ottawa 1.

Side Notes: Marc-Andre Fleury had a phenomenal game stopping 33 shots out of 34. He was a little shaky at the start, but settled down, and came into his own. The only thing that bothered me this game was the power play. The Pens went 1 for 8, with a brief 5 on 3. The Pens are lucky they have a nice lead in the series and don't have to rely on the power play because the second round, pending they make it, they will have to do better than 12.5%. Some upsides to the game were a few players getting their first career post season points. I tip my hat to Nick Foligno, Max Talbot, Tyler Kennedy, and Robert Scuderi. The Pens have to feel good about themselves going into game 4 with a 3-0 series lead. Wednesday will be a battle and hopefully they seal the deal. Lets Go Pens!!!!!

Three Stars:

1. Marian Hossa-1 goal, 2 assists
2. Sidney Crosby-1 goal, 1 assist
3. Nick Foligno-1 goal