Pittsburgh fans give Ottawa Senators a chance
The Ottawa Senators are proving themselves a worthy opponent to the Pittsburgh Penguins, according to locals gathered outside the city's PPG Paint Arena this weekend.
Thousands of teenagers streamed out of the Penguins' home arena Saturday night following a concert by 24-year-old Grammy-winning artist, Chance the Rapper.
Concert-goers agreed the Ottawa Senators, who will replace Chance as the arena's visiting entertainment Sunday afternoon, have been as much a surprise to the Eastern Conference final as the go-it-alone rapper was to the music business.
"Honestly, I didn't think Ottawa would make it this far, but they completely proved me wrong," said Nick Ferro, 17, as fans poured onto the sidewalk along Pittsburgh's Centre Avenue after the concert.
Sens and Penguins face off in Pittsburgh at 3 p.m ET
The Senators have a chance to pull ahead Sunday in a series deadlocked at two games apiece.
It's a chance the majority of Penguins fans wouldn't have given them when the series began.
"The series has been a bit of a surprise," said longtime Penguins fan Doug Brown, who was waiting in his car outside the arena for his teenagers to emerge from the concert.
Brown confessed to having predicted an easy elimination of the Senators in four or five games.
After four games, in spite of all the fire-power on the Penguins' roster, the contest is not proving to be lopsided in Pittsburgh's favour.
"They just seem to lack a little bit. Not sure what's going on with that," he said.
Brown was not the only Pittsburgh fan predicting Ottawa could take the Eastern Conference final.
The same refrain could be heard from Rich Shoemaker. "I figured it would be a clean sweep, to be honest, but Ottawa's a tough team and [the Penguins] have got their work cut out for them."
Shoemaker explained Ottawa's success as the effect of making the most of their chances with an injury-reduced Pittsburgh roster.
"It's a hard title to defend," he said. "I think it's going to go to Game 7."
