\[RELATED: Complete Senators vs. Penguins series coverage\]
Game 1 is at Pittsburgh on Saturday (7 p.m. ET; NBC, CBC, SN, TVA Sports).
"I guess you could say house money, but we're not satisfied either," MacArthur said of Ottawa's first trip to the conference final since 2007. "We didn't come here just to turn around and walk away. We're going to put our best effort forward. If they are going to beat us, we're going to make them earn it."
The Senators know that dethroning the defending Stanley Cup champions won't be easy.
"I don't know if anyone matches up that well with them," MacArthur said. "We'll do the best we can. We've got to find a way to slow them down and stay out of the penalty box, probably. Their power play is pretty solid. There are some things we can do to help ourselves. We'll concentrate on that."
It's easy to see why the Senators would be seen as an unlikely member of the final four in the quest for the Stanley Cup. They entered the playoffs second in the Atlantic Division but sixth in the Eastern Conference with 98 points. Ottawa was 12th in the conference in goals scored (206) and was the only playoff team with a negative goal differential (minus-2).
Pierre Dorion took over as general manager when Bryan Murray stepped down on April 10, 2016. He hired Guy Boucher as coach and said the Senators' goal was to make the playoffs in 2016-17 "and hopefully make some noise."
Backed by Craig Anderson's goaltending, the dynamic play at both ends of the ice by defenseman Erik Karlsson and a disciplined and structured defensive game, the Senators have a chance to make even more noise.