Getting behind early caused the Senators to open their system and get away from the tight style they like to play. That made the difference for the Penguins.
It started with some of their forwards who had not been forces earlier in the series. Lidster specifically mentioned center Nick Bonino, whose line Lidster believed especially was effective during Game 5.
"All of a sudden now you've got a little bit more depth in the forward groups, a little bit more speed going there, and that's tough for a team to handle when you have to start worrying about the stars but you also have to worry about scoring coming from all parts of the lineup," Lidster said. "And that's what Pittsburgh does really well."
It certainly was what the Penguins did very well in Game 5, with defensemen Olli Maatta and Trevor Daley, and forwards Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, Scott Wilson, Matt Cullen and Phil Kessel, each scoring.
Lidster noted that while the Penguins looked a bit tired earlier in the series, they've looked better in Games 4 and 5.
"There was a switch there," he said. "There was a definite switch there."
Now the Senators have to answer in Game 6.
"It's not like the series is over by any means," Lidster said. "Ottawa has shown remarkable ability to bounce back too. They didn't have a good game [Sunday]. They're only two games away from making it to the Final, two wins away from making it to the Final, so they're going to come out hard."
But Pittsburgh really just has to do more of the same, putting on more pressure, getting more pucks to the net and skating the way they can. Lidster said their puck management in Game 5 was outstanding and needs to stay near that level in Game 6.
"They scored a couple goals where they had a couple line changes, just by creating some offense on the cycle, moving the puck up and down, tired guys getting off and fresh guys getting on," he said. "I thought their puck possession game was terrific and they were getting some traffic and were causing havoc in front of the net."