Penguins Rip Ottawa 6-2, Move to Conference Finals The Pittsburgh Penguins expected desperation. Instead, the listless Ottawa Senators offered little more than resignation. Swarming the Senators from the opening faceoff, Pittsburgh roared to a 6-2 victory Friday night in Game 5 of the Eastern conference semifinals to take the best-of-seven series 4-1. James Neal picked up his first postseason hat trick as the Penguins capped a five-game onslaught against one of the NHL's best defensive teams to stroll into the conference finals. Pittsburgh scored 22 goals in the series while ending Ottawa's season for the third time in five years. "We gave them the respect they deserved and we came out and I think we surprised ourselves," Neal said. We played with a lot of speed and got it behind them and got to the net. And more importantly, into the net. Kris Letang, Evgeni Malkin and Brenden Morrow also scored, and Tomas Vokoun made 29 saves to help give top-seeded Pittsburgh a few days of rest before facing Boston or the New York Rangers in the conference finals. The Penguins will take the time off, but considering the way they're rolling at the moment they wouldn't mind if the next round started sooner rather than later. Certainly not against the overmatched Senators. Milan Michalek and Kyle Turris scored for Ottawa and Craig Anderson stopped 27 shots, but the Senators simply couldn't keep up. "I hope (the Penguins) don't bill us for the clinic," Ottawa coach Paul MacLean said. The Penguins anticipated taking Ottawa's best shot as the Senators tried to extend their season for at least another 48 hours. It never happened. Not even close. Outskated, outshot and outworked from the opening faceoff, the Senators put up little resistance as Pittsburgh moved on to the conference finals for the first time since 2009, when the franchise won its third Stanley Cup. Two more rounds remain, ones that figure to pose a stiffer test than the one the Senators provided. Ottawa destroyed Montreal in the opening round but could never find its footing against Pittsburgh. The series lasted 327 minutes. The Senators led for all of 17. "We gave them too many freebie chances and you're not going to beat a team like that when they get as many chances as they had," Ottawa forward Jason Spezza said. Pittsburgh made sure a trip to Canada for Game 6 wouldn't be necessary, turning Ottawa forward Daniel Alfredsson into a prophet of sorts. Alfredsson clarified his remarks Thursday, insisting his team still had a chance. It didn't take long for slim to turn into none, leaving the free agent to be pondering a future that could lead out of Ottawa or out of hockey altogether.