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The Penguins’ Carter Rowney celebrates after Bryan Rust scores on Senators goalie Craig Anderson during Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Final on May 21, 2017.Matt Kincaid/Getty Images

It will go down as the most-watched and most-analyzed practice of the 2017 Stanley Cup playoffs.

Certainly in Ottawa, no practice has ever been under such intense scrutiny. Monday's gathering at Canadian Tire Centre served not only as a light workout for the players, but as tea leaves and tarot cards for what might be coming Tuesday night when the Senators meet the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference final.

Lose, and the Senators' unexpected underdog run through the playoffs is done. Win, and it's back to Pittsburgh for a Game 7 that will decide which team moves on to the Stanley Cup final.

That the Senators were even deigning to practice was as much a surprise as the team's making the third round of the playoffs. This, after all, is a team that has come to forsake practice and morning skates, head coach Guy Boucher regularly offering up his mantra that "Rest is a weapon."

Well, Ottawa most certainly left Pittsburgh well rested after Sunday afternoon's devastating 7-0 loss to the now-awakened Stanley Cup defending champions.

It was the worst game, by far, of Ottawa's postseason, the players seemingly confused and relatively unengaged, the Penguins allowed to do as they wished as they poured four goals into the Ottawa net during a first-period romp, one more in the second and two more in the third, long after the Pens had all but stopped trying to score.

The Senators had four more power-play opportunities in that game, bringing their unbelievable stretch to 0-for-29 with the man-advantage. The last power-play goal by Ottawa goes back to Game 1 of its series against the New York Rangers, when Ryan Dzingel managed to hit an open net. Dzingel has recently been a healthy scratch, the power play left to others who cannot score.

Forward Mark Stone tried to put a smiley face onto it Monday when he said the one positive out of Sunday's disaster was that "We didn't use up a whole lot of energy in a game like that."

When Boucher decided after the game that they would return home and actually hold a practice, the news roared through hockey and social media. Was he panicking? Was he finally smartening up? Was this an admission – so highly unlikely – that he might have been wrong?

Perhaps, as a student of the game, Boucher had recalled what Hall of Famer Larry Robinson once said when he was coach of the Los Angeles Kings: "I know my players don't like my practices, but that's okay, because I don't like their games."

There was nothing Sunday afternoon that Boucher could possibly have liked about his players' game.

He called the practice, but not entirely to work out kinks in the power play.

Boucher told the media that, "The main focus wasn't necessarily on the ice.

"It was just to come back and reload, refresh, so we don't have to touch on yesterday [Sunday] tomorrow [Tuesday]."

That may prove difficult. Ottawa forward Zack Smith said that while the players are "embarrassed the way it ended, you've got to erase that right away.

"I kind of thought we had that put behind us and then we come out here to do media and you guys remind us of exactly everything that happened and how bad and terrible we were.

"But we've been putting it behind us since the end of the game.

"It doesn't do us any good to dwell on it."

They worked on the power play, finally, and the players said it was good just to move the puck around and get some confidence back.

Goaltender Craig Anderson, who was yanked in the first period Sunday after three goals, put back in for a fourth goal and yanked again from the second period on in favour of Mike Condon, will almost certainly start Game 6 and he, for one, was grateful for the outing.

"We can use it as a dress rehearsal if you don't feel good about your shooting, your saves," he said.

That would pretty much include the entire team.

Hard-nosed defenceman Mark Borowiecki, who is recovering from injury, practised and may be inserted in the lineup as what Boucher refers to as the team's "heat-seeking missile." Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel may all think twice about racing down the right side if the thought of an open-ice direct missile hit is in their head.

"We've made some small adjustments," Borowiecki said. "I'm not going to spill the beans. I wish I could tell you we have some silver bullet or something – but it's just a question of sticking to our guns."

There is also some small precedent to cling to.

In the Edmonton-Anaheim Western Conference semi-final, the Oilers crushed the Ducks 7-1 in Game 6, only to have Anaheim bounce back next game to take the series.

It can happen, however doubtful it seemed as the Senators, heads hanging, skated off the ice Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.

"We can't be sitting in our mud puddle," Boucher said. "We've got to get up and go. That's what we've done all year and playoffs.

"We're ready."

And, if it does make any difference, now practised.

The Ottawa Senators rolled over the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference final Wednesday. Senators forward Derick Brassard says the crowd’s energy helped in the first period, when the team scored four goals.

The Canadian Press

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