First period
- “Get to the front of the net,” the coach says. So David Savard tries, but falls trying to execute a deke.
- The hockey is … not very good to start.
- Savard remains the most dangerous player on the ice.
- And he scores! He was notable for his offensive play each shift, and scores from the low slot.
- Not the playmaking qualities the Penguins were hoping for from Karlsson.
- With that goal, eight of the nine defencemen who have played a game for Montreal so far have scored. Jordan Harris is the only one who hasn’t done the bench fly-by.
- RDS reminds everyone that the Canadiens don’t often manage to score in the opening period.
- Savard nearly scored a second, getting up from the Pittsburgh crease and firing another shot from the slot. Should we put him on hat trick watch?
- Samuel Montembeault loses his stick and has to play that way for a full shift, but the sprightly Savard takes some time to retrieve it for him before heading off.
- Jayden Struble picks up the puck in his own zone, gets around the forechecker and transitions all the way over the Penguins’ blue line. His reward is a goal on the give-and-go, his second in the NHL. An exceptional shift.
- Strong work from Jesse Ylönen to match his speed on the entry and use a chance of pace to beat a defender to create the lane.
- Kaiden Guhle gets flushed out from behind his net and stripped of the puck by Sidney Crosby. The end result is a goal for the Penguins’ captain.
- It’s been a rough few games for Guhle who isn’t nearly as composed as usual in his play. For some reason, he looks a lot smaller when he’s scrambling around trying to recover.
- The Canadiens go to the power play after an attempted slewfoot or Cole Caufield by Marcus Pettersson. Fortunately he didn’t get full purchase on his shoulder grab.
- Mike Matheson’s point shot trickles through Alex Nedeljkovic past a Nick Suzuki screen. It may have kept sliding for a goal, but Sean Monahan didn’t want the defence scoring all the goals tonight.
- The crowd is Oléing. Still 43 minutes to go in this one.
- Brendan Gallagher blocked a shot and then tried to race away for a chance, but couldn’t. He’s now slowly making his way to the dressing room.
- Just walking it off it appears because he’s right back on the bench.
- After a slow start, that turned into a really fun period for Montreal. Lots of creative plays from every line and pairing.
- The Penguins won’t be nearly so loose in the second, though, so this game isn’t over yet.
Second period
- The Suzuki line starts with a good shift to at least delay whatever push the Penguins were hoping for in period two.
- Pittsburgh does earn a power play as Johnny Kovacevic goes off for interference. We’ll see if their strategies from last night still work against Montreal.
- Numerous clears by Montreal as the Penguins aren’t winning any puck battles.
- It was going well, guys. You didn’t need five penalty-killers. Another two minutes to kill after a too-many-men call.
- I think they just weren’t used to changing that many times on one two-minute minor.
- After a long battle along the boards involving all four penalty-killers, the puck comes free to Crosby, who slings it to Jake Guentzel at the point. Crosby collects the rebound and sets up Guentzel in the slot to make it a 3-2 game.
- Now Montreal is allowed to play with five again.
- A dangerous shift from the Evans line sees about five scoring chances, but no goal.
- Guhle makes a great defensive play to thwart a potential two-on-one, then the ref calls him for a hook the next time the puck comes into Montreal’s zone. There didn’t seem to be a lot there.
- It was actually Slafkovský who got the call for a one-handed tap of a Penguins player’s arm.
- Another power-play goal for Pittsburgh, so that’s fixed now. Tie game.
- The Canadiens are the better team at five-on-five. Just have to get the refs to stop calling penalties on them.
- Since I wrote that about four minutes ago, I don’t think the Habs have possessed the puck in the offensive zone. Pittsburgh now has the shot advantage, and they didn’t at the time they tied the game.
- Pittsburgh puts the puck in the net but about a second after the period ended, so this one remains 3-3. The Canadiens need to get their engine started again for the third.
Third period
- The idea to start periods with the Suzuki line is a good one from St-Louis. They always seem to start off well.
- Struble creates a turnover in the neutral zone to help Gallagher get a chance.
- The third period is looking significantly better than the latter half fo the second.
- A burst of speed for Caufield gets him a chance on goal. He doesn’t score, but does draw a penalty.
- Shots are 7-1 Montreal in the third, with some really good chances.
- Nick Suzuki hits the post on another attack with speed down the left side.
- Montreal used up all its wishes with the three first-period goals.
- Evgeni Malkin gets whistled for playing through a delayed offside, he waved in apology to the linesman, which was nice of him.
- Anderson gets the puck on a two-on-one. That’s as far as the chance develops.
- Montreal hits another pot after the puck hit the foot of the ref to keep the presence alive.
- This is looking similar to the third period versus Nashville now. Montreal is full control of the play versus a tired team, but they just can’t get the goal they need.
- Smartly, the Penguins run Samuel Montembeault over to get a penalty and get the Canadiens away from their five-on-five play.
- It’s super effective.
- Shots were 11-3 Montreal in the third. The game should be over, but it is not.
- Please don’t start Christian Dvorak in overtime.
Overtime
- He did start Dvorak. Pittsburgh almost scored.
- Suzuki and Caufield get on the ice. Suzuki nearly scores on a nice setup from his linemate.
- Caufield dances around Malkin and gets tripped. Malkin isn’t so cordial to the official on this occasion.
- There are some shots, but even at four-on-three the players are so far spread out that the goaltender can get square to the shooter on one-timers. Tighten it up, guys.
- The power play ends.
- Dvorak and Armia get shifts, no Ylönen.
Shootout
- Suzuki, Caufield, Ylönen in the shootout?
- Suzuki scores. Making up for his previous miss.
- Kris Letang ties it up with a shot over Montembeault’s glove.
- Caufield up next. Lifts a shot under the crossbar at rocket speed.
- Crosby scores as well. Four shots on four attempts.
- Ylönen does get the call. He rattles a shot off the post.
- Jake Guentzel can win it.
- I was wrong. No he can’t. Another ping.
- Slafkovský stuffs his shot into Nedeljkovic’s pad.
- Malkin, who took the penalty in overtime, fails to seal the win on his shot.
- Joel Armia’s turn. He misses.
- Reilly Smith is stopped.
- As we going to defencemen now?
- Nope. Dvorak. Stopped. He also ran into Nedeljkovic on the way by, and the goalie is down.
- Erik Karlsson has a chance to win it. A wicked slapshot is saved.
- Sean Monahan gives Montreal the edge with a glove-side goal.
- Montembeault is a save away from a win.
- Lars Eller finds the net. We play on.
- Running out of offensive players here.
- Here comes Matheson. Stick save.
- Jeff Carter isn’t fast enough to deke around Montembeault.
- Michael Pezzetta is out. Pad save.
- Valtteri Puustinen misses. Round 10.
- Jake Evans up next. A weak shot is stopped.
- Radim Zohorna comes in slow and can’t score.
- Brendan Gallagher’s turn. Shot is stopped.
- Someone’s going to score here eventually.
- Vinnie Hinostroza doesn’t fool Montembeault with his dekes.
- Josh Anderson is stopped. But his shot was on target.
- Jansen Harkins squeaks one through Montembeault, and that will do it.
- Penguins win 4-3.
- Habs let this one get away despite being the better team. Always frustrating.
EOTP 3 Stars
3) He should have picked a higher jersey number. Modern generational players have gotten wise to that.
2) Just try to miss a net by as much from as close as he does. It’s hard to do.
1) So many options available with all of these defencemen
