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Pittsburgh Penguins: Three Keys to Game Seven Vs. Ottawa

By Matthew Rodrigopulle

May 23, 2017; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby (87) tries to control the puck as Ottawa Senators defencemen Marc Methot attempts to push him aside in game six of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
May 23, 2017; Ottawa, Ontario, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins forward Sidney Crosby (87) tries to control the puck as Ottawa Senators defencemen Marc Methot attempts to push him aside in game six of the Eastern Conference Final of the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Canadian Tire Centre. Mandatory Credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Pittsburgh Penguins are heading into what can very well be their final game of the season.

Facing the Ottawa Senators in game seven of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pittsburgh Penguins will have to play their very best. Looking at game six, their performance was underachieving.

Pittsburgh Penguins
Pittsburgh Penguins /

Pittsburgh Penguins

Keeping this performance in mind, here are three keys to game seven that the Penguins should look to improve on if they wish to advance to the Finals.

Lack of Offence

The Penguins lack of offence has been the story of these playoffs. Don’t get me wrong, the Penguins offence has come up big countless times, which is why we have gotten this far. However, it has been rather spotty.

There are games we blow out opponents and then games where we get blown out. Another big problem was our lack of first period scoring. In fact, Sunday’s game five was the first game in which the Penguins scored over two goals in the first period.

If the Penguins want to move on, they are going to have to fix this.

Matt Murray Needs to Hold It Down

Marc-Andre Fleury has played the majority of these playoffs in relief of expected starter Matt Murray who suffered an injury right before game one of round one. Well now Matt Murray is back and he’s still hot.

We need a huge performance from this clutch performer. Murray and Fleury can both hold it down, but right now, all eyes are on Matt Murray to take us all the way.

We Need a Big Game from our Big Guys

Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are our two best players. If you want, we can even throw Phil Kessel in the mix there. These are our go-to guys, and we need to go to them in game seven. We need to hope they can put on quite the performance to secure us the win.

Next: Win or Hit the Links

These three were our leading scorers in the regular season and are our leading scorers in the playoffs right now. They are the guys we need to entrust to get us into the next round. Obviously hockey is a team sport, but these guys carry a lot of the weight. Let’s hope they get it done.

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