Penguins countered the Senators aggressive game plan in Game 3 win

Frustrations in Ottawa are brewing over the lack of production from Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson in the Senators best-of-seven series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Alfredsson and Spezza have zero goals in the series, while Pittsburgh's dynamic duo of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have combined for 5 goals in three games.

With key losses to Alexei Kovalev and Milan Michalek on their top-2 lines, Ottawa has struggled mightily at creating offense at even strength.

Prior to the series, many thought Spezza and Alfreddson would have to match Crosby and Malkin for the Senators to have any shot at knocking off the defending champs and injuries to their top-6 has given Pittsburgh the ability to put all of their focus on the Senators top line of Peter Regin - Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson.

 Regin has stepped up his game and has been Ottawa's best forward but Spezza has been limited and Alfredsson is showing signs of age.

With Pittsburgh appearing to be in command of the series, star power has won out through the first three games of the series.

-* In reviewing the tape of game 3, Pittsburgh was very good in moving the puck up quickly to avoid the Senators aggressive fore-check, which led to a number of odd-man breaks.

In a game that had 82 hits, long passing lanes opened up for Pittsburgh to be opportunistic in the game. Pittsburgh countered the Senators aggressive game plan very well.

-* Alexei Ponikarovsky's first period goal in Sunday's game was off of a set breakout play that the Penguins work on regularly in practice.