MONTREAL -- Veteran winger Bill Guerin, who continues to be an effective point producer with eight points in eight games this spring, hopes to be back in the Penguins' lineup for Game 5.

He missed Game 3 and will miss Game 4 on Thursday night even though he skated hard during this morning's practice. He would not say what is ailing him, although he did miss several games earlier in the season with back spasms.

"It's something that's been lingering and happened during the Canadiens series," he said. "How's that?"

Guerin did say he came to Montreal for these two games hoping to play. He said it was less frustrating sitting out Game 3 because the Pens won.

"It's tough watching, but just as long as we get a win, that makes everything better," Guerin said. "You want to play, you want to be in there, but at the same time, you have to be smart."

Getting to Crosby

Montreal fans were trying to get to Sidney Crosby in Game 3 by chanting, "Crosby sucks," a chant the Pittsburgh captain hears in other buildings, especially in Philadelphia. But Crosby said he didn't hear the chants.

"I didn't. Honestly, I've heard it in Philly before. Last game, I didn't hear anything," Crosby said Thursday morning. "I'm not afraid to say whether I have heard it or not. It's not something that I am dealing with for the first time. But, honestly, last game, it wasn't even something I noticed."

Dealing with the Kostitsyns

Montreal coach Jacques Martin had Andrei Kostitsyn skating with Mike Cammalleri and Tomas Plekanec in the hopes of trying to squeeze some more depth scoring from his lineup. Plekanec has one goal in his past seven games; outside of recording a hat trick in Game 2 of the first round, Kostitsyn has failed to score in any other playoff game this spring.

Speaking of the Kostitsyns, hard-luck Sergei Kostitsyn didn't even get an invite to the morning skate and instead worked out at the gym.

Martin would not explain why, although Kostitsyn was called out after the morning skate before Game 3 by backup netminder Carey Price, who asked why the younger of the two brothers had left the ice early. Sergei has been a healthy scratch for the past five games.