Canadiens @ Penguins Qualifier Game 2: Game thread, rosters, lines, and how to watch

Stanley Cup Qualifiers: Game 2

Montreal Canadiens @ Pittsburgh Penguins

How to watch

Start time: 8:00 PM EDT / 5:00 PM PDT
In Canada: Sportsnet (English), TVA Sports (French)
In the US: NBCSN
In the Penguins region: ATTSN Pittsburgh
Streaming: Sportsnet Now

It’s no surprise that after a game Montreal got better in as it went along, eventually pulling out the win, that Claude Julien has left everything intact. There were no obvious weak points in his lineup, and therefore no reason to make changes.

Mike Sullivan had more to think about for his side, but he’s already confirmed that Matt Murray will be back in net, and no lineup changes have currently been announced. He seems to believe his club has all it needs to pull off a good result, just needing some more execution on the power play and a tighter defensive strategy to prevent odd-man rushes. One of those led to Nick Suzuki’s 2-0, while another earned Jonathan Drouin a penalty shot in overtime that could have created the winning goal.

No one will be more disappointed in Montreal’s lack of discipline than Phillip Danault. Before the series, he was on record saying how much of a challenge it would be to lock down Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but was forced to miss six minutes of those matchups with time spent in the penalty box. He’s one player who’s going to be motivated for a better performance this evening.

Joining him in that bounce-back mentality will be Jonathan Drouin, who took two of the seven minors for Montreal himself, and had that flubbed penalty shot in overtime. He proved early in the season that he has a higher level than he showed in his first two seasons, and the Canadiens will need to see that from him again to keep winning against a high-quality opponent.

Montreal Canadiens projected lineup

Scratches: Jake Evans, Cale Fleury, Christian Folin, Charles Hudon, Noah Juulsen, Michael McNiven, Gustav Olofsson, Ryan Poehling, Cayden Primeau
Injured: Alex Belzile

Pittsburgh Penguins projected lineup