Corsi thought the Senators were executing their game plan in the first 12-plus minutes of Game 5. He said the chances were only 3-2 in favor of the Penguins in that time. The problem is the Penguins scored on two to take a 2-0 lead. The Senators imploded from there.
A big problem, Corsi said, was how the Senators reacted to faceoffs in the defensive zone. They won eight of 10 faceoffs in their defensive zone in the first period but the Penguins gained control of the puck on six of the Senators' wins.
Ottawa, in fact, won a defensive-zone faceoff 12 seconds before Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta scored to make it 1-0 at 8:14 of the first period.
"Pittsburgh figured if they're not going to win the faceoff they're going to change their forecheck," Corsi said. "On a number of times [defenseman] Trevor Daley was pinching down. When they tried to swing away and come up the strong side, the weakside forward or the center went to the boards so they couldn't whip it up along the boards. When they went D to D [defenseman-to-defenseman pass] and the forward dropped down low on a couple of occasions, the weakside defenseman came down low to pinch at that forward so he just chipped it up the wall and the high F3 [third forward] punched it back down. It was, 'If we can't win the faceoff, we're going to forecheck the heck out of you.'"
Even when the Senators had five players back in the defensive zone, Corsi said the Penguins looked faster because they were more decisive in their reads.
"They were faster to react," Corsi said. "As far as the speed goes, it's the puck on the net, rebound, and then there is that feeling from Ottawa of, 'Where should I go now?' That little delay, where is the puck now, Pittsburgh is going to get it."
Corsi said the Senators need to retreat to the front of the net if they're unsure of where the puck is or where they need to be.
"It has to be in the attention to detail to what has given them their success," Corsi said.