Just two days after completing their series upset against the Washington Capitals, the Candiens got a wakeup call from the defending Stanley Cup champions in Pittsburgh on Friday night, as the Pens exploded for six goals, four of them on the powerplay. Montreal’s PK was a huge part of their success in Washington, but they were unable to stop Pittsburgh on any of their 4 chances.
PK Subban continued his strong play since joining the Habs midway through the first series, scoring his first powerplay goal less than five minutes in, but the Pens answered with two powerplay goals before the end of the first to take the lead for good. Sergei Gonchar scored first for Pittsburgh, blasting a one timer from the point, and Jordan Staal scored on the Habs’ next penalty, wiring a wrist shot in over Halak’s glove. Kris Letang scored his 3rd goal of the playoffs on a powerplay in the 3rd, getting a pass from Sidney Crosby in the slot and putting it in off the far post to give the Pens a 3-1 lead.
Mike Cammalleri tried to get Montreal back in the series with his goal late in the 2nd, but Craig Adams benefited from some great offensive pressure from the Penguins’ 3rd line, as Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis came away with the puck off some good forechecking and Dupuis found Adams streaking to the net. Alex Goligoski chased Jaroslav Halak early in the 3rd, and Bill Guerin would add an empty netter in the last minute.
The Canadiens looked a bit sluggish after their 7 game tilt with the Caps, and Halak in particular looked nowhere near the performer he was against Washington. He finished with just 15 saves on 20 shots, and just looked way off his game. Marc-Andre Fleury was solid for the Pens, making 28 saves, and helping them do a much better job of killing penalties than Montreal did. If Pittsburgh’s powerplay continues to click like this, Montreal’s cinderella story will be over quicker than it started.
Couple of injury notes for both teams: Andrei Markov looks to have been lost for the series after having his knee injured in a collision with Matt Cooke. Jordan Staal will also miss the rest of the series after having surgery to repair a severed tendon in his foot sustained when the blade of a Montreal player’s skate landed awkwardly on the top of his skate boot.
