Sens face familiar foe in Pittsburgh Penguins

And then there were four.

In a surprise to many,Ottawais the last Canadian team standing and in the conference finals after dustingoff Boston in six games in round one and unexpectedly doingthe same to the New York Rangers in round two.

Up next, in a conference finalthat startstonightat 7 p.m. at the PPG Paints Arena, the Senators find themselves matched up against a familiar foe in the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Familiarity breeds contempt?

It's the fifth time the two clubs have met in the post-season since 2007.

TheSensbeat the Pens fourgames to onethat year, but have fallen to SidneyCrosbyand Co.three times since then: in 2008, 2010 and 2013.

Despite their frequent post-season meetings, seemingly little rivalry has developed between these two clubs.

Not that there isn't history. In 2013 then-Penguins instigator Matt Cooke almost ended Karlsson's career in 2013 with that cringe-worthy severing of the franchise player's Achilles tendon.

Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson also suffered injuries in previous games with the Pens. But player turnover meansfew are around who remember these incidents.

There was some bad blood created in their last regular season meeting this year,when Sidney Crosby went lumberjack on Marc Methot's hand, delivering a vicious slash that severed the tip of the defenceman's left pinky finger.

No penalty was called on the play and Methot missed weeks of playing time and only returned one game into the playoffs. Methotwas furious about the play at the time and called it 'by far' the mostpainful injury of his career. But hetook the high road when asked about getting even.

"All that is behind me and I'm just focused on this series and I'm focused on the Penguins and that's going to be the goal for me moving forward," he said.

No Respect

Once again the odds makers have listed the Senators as the least likely team to advance from this remaining group to win the Stanley Cup.Pittsburgh, the defending league champions, are the favourites and most of the so-called experts are calling for a relatively easy Penguins run to the Stanley Cup final.

''It's less pressure on us, no one's picking us again for sure,'' says Senators forward Clarke MacArthur, ''But at the end of the day you still have to win four games and it's tough to do there's always a chance.''

The Matchup

For what it's worth and that's usually not muchthe Senators played pretty well against the Penguins during the regular season.

They won their two home games against them, including the March 23 game Methot was injured in, the last meeting between the two teams beforetonight. On the road is a different story; they havejust one win in their last 10 games in Pittsburgh dating back to 2013.

Their one game in Pittsburgh this year turned out to be Craig Anderson's last before taking a two-month sabbatical to be by his wife Nicholle's side during her cancer treatments. Ottawa held a four to two second-period lead, only to be blitzed in the second half of the game, losing 8-5.

On paper the Penguins are full value for their status as favourites.

They came into the playoffs as the NHL's second seed, behind only the Washington Capitals, who they dispatched, again, in a tough seven-game series in round two. In the first round, they rolled over Columbus, who had the fourth-most points in the NHL this year.

Now they face a Senators team that came into the playoffs as the team with the twelfth-best record andwas the only club to enter the post season to allow more goals in the regular season than they scored.

Injury Report

One thing the Senators do have an edge in over Pittsburgh is health.

They head into this series with only one significant injury:hard-nosed defenceman Mark Borowieckihasn't returned since suffering a leg injury in round one against Boston.

The Penguins, on the other hand, are without star defenceman Kris Letang, who will miss the entire playoffs after undergoing neck surgery last month. Letang was the club's power-play quarterback and his absence showed against Washington, when they scored on just threeof 22 opportunities.

Defenceman Trevor Daley and winger Carl Hagelin also missed the end of round two and are questionable for the start of round three.

Andy & The Flower

It was a warm-upinjuryto starting goaltender Matt Murray before game one of this year's playoffs that pushed Marc-Andr Fleury into action for the Penguins. He has responded by playing some of the best hockey of his career. Fleury's playoff save percentage sits at .927 and he was particularly sharp against the Capitals, who outshot the Penguins in all sevengames of their second-roundseries.

At the other end, Craig Anderson has been mostly spectacular for the Senators, saving his best for key moments like overtimes, where Ottawa has recorded fiveof its eightwins, and in the third period of their series-clinching game against the New York Rangers.

Sidney, Malkin & who?

When you think Pittsburgh Penguins, you think Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, and yes the duo has been dynamic so far in these playoffs, combining for 32 points.

They sit first (Malkin) and fourth (Crosby) in post-season scoring, but they are not alone.

Secondary scoring is so important to a team's success and the Penguins are getting it from some unexpected sources. Jake Guentzel, just 22 years old, tops the list with a league-leading nineplayoff goals so far. Another young gun, 25-year-old Bryan Rust, has chipped in with five, as has old hand Phil Kessel.

The Senators' biggest scoring surprise has come from Jean-Gabriel Pageau, whose sixgoals in the Rangers series tied thesingle-series club record held by Martin Havlat.

The Karlsson Factor

Maybe the most interesting storyline in this series willbe the undeniable showdown between two of the game's best players: the head-to-head match-up between opposing captains Sidney Crosby and Erik Karlsson.

Crosby was slowed down by a concussion that forced him out of one game in round two, but he returned as good as ever setting up the winning goal in game sevenagainst the Capitals.

It's hard to find the proper words to describe how well Karlsson is playing right now for the Senators.

He leads all players in time on the ice at just under 30 minutes a night and is on the ice in all of the key situations for the Senators.

This stat speaks volumes:Karlsson, who is a plus eightin the playoffs, has been on the ice for all eightof Ottawa's game-winning goals this post season, assistingon three of them and scoringtwo himself.

That is what you call leading by example.If he can keep it up, he and the Senators are going to continue to fool the experts.