The night after 4-2 victory over the New Jersey Devils, your Montreal Canadiens play the tail end of a back to back in Pittsburgh. After acquiring him yesterday for their first round pick in 2015, the Penguins will dress left winger David Perron for his first game as a Penguin. Also, despite the back to back situation Carey Price will start against Pittsburgh after beating New Jersey last night. Dale Weise will start on the second line with Plekanec and Desharnais, and Manny Malholtra will draw into the lineup on the fourth line. Here is the rest of the starting lineup:
Pacioretty - Galchenyuk - Gallagher
Desharnais - Plekanec - Weise
Sekac - Eller - Prust
Andrighetto - Malholtra - Bournival
Markov - Subban
Beaulieu - Gonchar
Emelin - Gilbert
1st Period
Less than three minutes in, Tom Gilbert directed a weak shot on net, recognizing two Canadien forwards in front of Fleury. One was Brendan Gallagher, and the other was Max Pacioretty who whacked home the first goal of the game. Just four minutes later, Dale Weise came racing across the Pittsburgh blue line, and passed the puck to the top of the face-off circle to David Desharnais, who wound up and blasted home another goal for the bleu, blanc, et rouge.
The Penguins finally got on the scoreboard just after the ten minute mark of the first period, as Sidney Crosby spotted David Perron uncovered in the slot, who slapped home his first goal as a Pittsburgh Penguin. Perron had an empty net to shoot at after a beautiful pass from Crosby. After a turnover created by David Perron, Crosby snatched the puck and nearly blazed past Subban. The rush led to several players, including Andrei Markov and Steve Downie, crashing into Carey Price. A scrum would ensue, and Pittsburgh's Steve Downie would get the only penalty. On the power play, Pittsburgh did a great job of boxing out Montreal, creating turnover and dumping the puck down the ice. The entire penalty would be completely killed off.
As the period dwindled down, the Penguins really started to turn it on and put pressure on the Canadiens. After a big hit on Pens' captain Sidney Crosby, both Crosby and team mate Steve Downie began whining to the refs for a call on the play. As the play continued and Pittsburgh re-entered the Montreal zone, Tom Gilbert hit Downie, and a wrestling match ensued. Gilbert was given an interference penalty, and Downie got two minutes for roughing as he stormed down the home team tunnel, furious at the penalty assessed.
After the buzzer went, the Habs still led 2-1. The 2nd period will start with a brief 4 on 4. Shots in the period were 11 to 8 for the Pittsburgh Penguins.
2nd Period
As the 4 on 4 expired, Gilbert rushed out of the box and found himself on a partial breakaway, where he sniped one past Fleury, restoring Montreal's two goal lead. Six minutes into the period, Pens defense man Robert Bortuzzo got his stick up on Jiri Sekac, who had to go to the dressing room for repairs. This gave the Habs a crucial 4-minute power play. Through the opening moments of the power play, Fleury held his ground and made multiple good athletic saves. Montreal did not establish many chances after the opening minute of the power play, much to the credit of the Penguins penalty killers. A good kill by the Penguins to keep them in the game.
The mid point of the second period was very back and forth, but more so in the neutral zone where scoring chances weren't created. Lars Eller's line with Bournival and Prust kept the Pens hemmed in their own zone for three shifts in a row. They were cycling well and creating small chances when they could. With about five minutes remaining in the period, Montreal was given a penalty because Steve Downie's stick was held by a player on the bench. Montreal killed the penalty, in which Pittsburgh got no high quality chances to capitalize. As the period was dying down, and Pittsburgh was entering Montreal's zone, Crosby fell on the ice and tried to sneak in a trip on Tom Gilbert with his skate, giving the Pens a 2 on 1. However, the refs would have none of that. Montreal would head to the power play with 5 seconds left in the second period, giving them 1:55 of power play to start the third period.
With the Pens looking frustrated, Montreal could expect a chippy third period. The shots in the period were 13 to 10 for the Habs, bringing the teams totals to 21 shots a piece in the game.
3rd Period
Montreal had a huge opportunity to crush the Penguins at the beginning of the period, by clicking on the power play. The Canadiens did a good job of keeping possession and controlling the puck, however they could not find the back of the net. The Penguins only got the puck out once, and it didn't even make it to the Habs' blue line. Montreal has went 0/4 at this point in the game on the power play. The Pens began to take control, and on a 2 on 1 Bryan Rust beat Carey Price, but not the goal post. Due to the pressure, Montreal needed to get the puck out but ended up icing the puck. Michel Therrien called his timeout so his tired troops could get a quick rest after a long shift in their own zone.
Sidney Crosby and his line mate had several strong shifts in the Canadien zone in the first half of the third period , but Montreal was successful in boxing them out and not allowing dangerous scoring chances. Despite a lot of offensive zone time, Montreal only allowed 1 shot from the Penguins. In need of goals, Pittsburgh began putting all their eggs in one basket, as Perron, Malkin, Crosby, Letang and Ehrhoff were all deployed at the same time. The forecheck of Lars Eller's line continued being strong, forcing turnovers and establishing a bit of zone time for Montreal.
As it was getting close to crunch time, Montreal got in Pittsburgh's zone and worked the puck back to the blue line. Alexei Emelin took a big windup, and blasted one past Fleury off the post, putting Montreal up 4-1. What a bomb of a shot by Emelin though, wow.
After the Emelin goal, Montreal did a great job of forcing the Pens to dump the puck in , so they could get it and clear the zone. There was almost a squeaker that snuck by Price, but it was yanked off the goal line. The last 5 minutes were perfectly executed, lulling the Pens to sleep.
4-1 Montreal the final. The shots were 33-31 for Montreal at the final buzzer. Emelin, Gilbert, and Price were the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd stars. Odd to see the two defense men up there.
Post Game
- Carey Price didn't need to bail out Montreal. Although he had 31 saves, they were mostly outside shots that were not difficult to stop. Great defensive effort by Montreal, keeping the Pens to the outside and not giving up many odd man rushes.
- I really like Desharnais on wing. He has a great shot and now he is forced to use it. One goal tonight and several chances, he could've had another couple goals easily.
- Lars Eller, Michael Bournival and Brandon Prust was an excellent fore-checking line, and they kept the puck in the Penguins end. Was very impressed by that trio tonight.
- Just thought I'd say Emelin's shot was a bomb. Again.
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