Getty ImagesEntering Game 5 Friday night, the Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to do something they've yet to accomplish under head coach Dan Bylsma: close out a playoff series on home ice.
"I'm aware," Bylsma told reporters Friday about that little blip on his NHL resume.
Since Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien in Feb. 2009, the Penguins have had six chances to initiate a handshake line on the ice at Mellon Arena and CONSOL Energy Center, and six times they've failed. Up 3-1 in their series versus the Ottawa Senators, the Penguins are also a win away from advancing past the second round for the first time since that 2008-09 season; one that ended with the franchise's third Stanley Cup.
"Our team knows exactly how important this opportunity is to get the fourth win and try to do that here as soon as possible and not look at this being three more games," said Bylsma after Friday's morning skate. "We have one game right in front of us and it's important to have that mentality and mindset for us tonight."
But as Senators head coach Paul MacLean declared during his only post-Game 4 statement, his team is going to Pittsburgh and coming to play. And like the New York Rangers, Ottawa can only follow the cliche and take it one game at a time.
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