With the Penguins battling the Canadiens at Scotiabank Arena in downtown Toronto, Pittsburgh got off to a fast start for a second straight game while acknowledged as the home team. Matt Murray got the nod to start game two against Carey Price. For the Penguins backstop, to was his Murray’s 50th career appearance in the playoffs. The Penguins kept the same lines and defensive pairings that they had used in game one on Saturday.
The Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary line started the game with the starting pairing being Kris Letang and Brian Dumoulin. As soon as the whistle was blown when Price froze the puck, Rust started getting physical and tempers were flaring early on for the Penguins. For a majority of the games first period, Pittsburgh remained still in their own zone. Letang passed the puck to Sidney Crosby who passed it to Jake Guetzel who attempted a wraparound. Then, Sidney Crosby tried to lift the puck and shoot it, but this was blocked by Habs right-winger Jordan Weal.
Jason Zucker followed after with a mini breakaway and tried to go backhand, but would come up short. Following the attempt, Crosby opened up the scoring, putting g Pittsburgh ahead with his 68th career playoff goal. He is now tied for 19th with Gordie Howe.
Guetzel passed the puck to Crosby who solid the puck five-hole past Carey Price. As the first period resumed, the Canadiens had two many men on the ice and so the Penguins got the game’s first power play. They had plenty of chances with rebounds, but couldn’t get the puck in to double their lead.
Marcus Pettersson would then be awarded with Pittsburgh’s first penalty. With 48 seconds left of the power play, Montreal was called for hooking, so it negated to the man advantage. After a video review of a goal that Montreal scored while the net became loose, it became a four-on-three due to Brian Dumoulin being called for holding.
The call on the play was no goal. These type of penalties are the type that the Penguins need to eliminate. The Canadiens had another bench minor penalty, charged for too many men on the ice. Therefore, after Dumoulin’s penalty expired, the Pittsburgh Penguins had the man advantage. At the end of the game’s first period, the Habs trailed Pittsburgh 1-0 after twenty.
Second Period and More Penalties
Matt Murray looked sharp in net in both the first and second periods. The Penguins started hot once again as they took to the ice while looking to do more. On the other side, Montreal came out with one goal in mind. They had been putting the puck on net, but none of them were going past Price.
Matt Murray made some excellent saves with rebound control that otherwise would’ve been goals. Rust, Danault and Marino got into a scrum, however, the fight resulted in a five-on-four situation with a penalty called. This one was to Bryan Rust who was sent to the box with a roughing minor penalty.
The Penguins killed the penalty and held the Canadiens to no shots on goal. The Penguins seemed to lag and slow down at the halfway mark of the second period. That being said, they still delivered huge hits and checks. With another Montreal penalty, that saw the Penguins being handed a power play.
Letang, Hornqvist, Crosby, Malkin and Guentzel were the first power play unit for Pittsburgh. Heading into the game, the Penguins were 0 for 3 on the power play. That also made them 1 for 10 on the power play for the series. Shortly after, the Penguins got their fourth power play while Evgeni Malkin was sent off for tripping.
With 26 seconds remaining on the power play, the Canadiens received another penalty, being called this time for slashing. That would result in another five-on-three for Pittsburgh. Matt Murray, while between the pipes, didn’t get a lot of looks until the end of the frame.
In the period’s final minutes, Bryan Rust had a hard shot at Price and even followed up on his own rebound. While attempting a goal, he would go just wide on Carey Price and the mesh. The period ended with the Pittsburgh Penguins still up 1-0 after 40 minutes.
Third Period
Opening on a two-on-one to begin the third, Matt Murray made a fantastic save on Tomas Tatar who came out of the gate firing. Both teams, at this point, seemed to be back and forth between their respective zones. The shots were 29-18 in Montreal’s favour with less than half left to play in the third.
Malkin didn’t appear in top form which is unfortunate for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Murray, now into the third, had been strong and able to keep his team in the game. The score would otherwise be different. Crosby, Malkin and Guentzel were shooting the puck as much as they could to get it on net, but nothing was going through Price. Like Murray, Carey Price managed to keep Montreal intact and was their best player in the game by far.
As the final frame resumed, the Canadiens ket trying to get under the Penguins’ skin, but no luck doing so early on. The Penguins came out and played their game and didn’t try anything fancy when shooting the puck. They shot the puck looking to do damage rather than passing as they had at the start.
Conor Sheary made a cross pass to Jason Zucker who netted in with just six minutes left. This would make it 2-0 Pittsburgh as they neared the finish line with win over the Habs. With a little over two minutes to play, Jesperi Kotaniemi slapped a rebound under Murray’s pad, this slipping in for Montreal’s first goal.
In doing so, this drew the Canadiens within a single goal of the leading Penguins. After the goal was scored, Carey Price headed off to the bench while Montreal tossed in an extra attacker. Letang then shot the puck down the ice, missed the empty net, this resulting in an icing.
Jake Guentzel skated down to Montreal’s zone with a mini breakaway and potted the finisher. This doubled Pittsburgh’s lead to three with 9.2 seconds left remaining on the clock. The final score was 3-1 Pittsburgh, this tying the series at one apiece. Game three is now set for Wednesday in downtown Toronto at Scotiabank Arena. The game is available for viewing on Sportsnet Ontario and NBCSN. It will also be carried in Canadiens region on TVA Sports to be watched in French. As well, it can be heard via radio on TSN690 and 98.5fm.