Crosby breaks down Penguins' defeat

Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby was held at bay for long stretches of Wednesday night's Game 1 loss to the Ottawa Senators, a 5-4 decision at Mellon Arena.

Crosby finished with three assists -- including a sweet no-look, backhand pass to Alex Goligoski on the goal that made it 5-4 -- but he was held without a shot until the third period.

Afterward, Crosby talked about his team's struggles in its opening game of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs and about what the team will need to do better in Friday's Game 2.

Question: Was that the start you wanted?

Crosby: I thought in the second and third we got a little better. But that bounce they got on that third goal, that ended up being the difference. Our start wasn't great and we certainly got to make sure we are better.

Question: How hard is it to come back from a two-goal deficit in the playoffs?

Crosby: We've all been in that a situation before. It really depends. It depends how much time is left, momentum and things like that. There are going to be times in the playoffs when you are down and you're still playing pretty good hockey. That's the way it is. It's close hockey and there is not a lot of difference that decides games. We are going to be faced with being down two goals at some point and we are going to have to come back. I'm pretty sure if we are going to be successful we are going to have to deal with that. It's not a habit we want to get into, but something at some point we will have to face if we want to keep moving on here.

Question: Did you guys play the way you wanted to the first couple of periods?

Crosby: No, not the first (period), no. Absolutely not. They were shooting pretty much everywhere to start, trying to get some momentum and we just never got to our game until the second period and by that time, they had a couple. It's never easy coming back, but we had a lot of time at that point to come back and win the game.

Question: With retrospect, would it have been easier to just dump the puck in?

Crosby: It's always easy to just say dump it, but I think you have to control the puck. If we are hemmed in our zone and we don't execute through the neutral zone, then we don't have the puck. For sure, we would like to get to their ‘D' and have some speed through the neutral zone. But that starts in other places, too, and we've got to get there.

Question: Did they play the style you expected?

Crosby: At this point, I think everybody knows what to expect from every team. I don't think teams change a lot in the playoffs; they do what has made them successful and they are not any different. They capitalized on the power play. They got a bounce on that third goal and there is not a lot of difference in games. You talk about playoff hockey and it is pretty tight and it's a matter of executing. They got a few chances they put in and they executed at the power play. At the end of the day, that bounce ends up being the extra goal. We need to be better for sure.

Question: It seemed there were a lot of bounces out there tonight that didn't go your way.

Crosby: We had a few chances around the net. Staalsy (Jordan Staal) had a great chance early on and we had a few chances around the net that just didn't go in. That's going to be the difference. You can always say "what if," but at the end of the day, you have to find ways to win and we weren't able to tonight.