The Pittsburgh Penguins were 6-0-1 in their last seven trips to the Bell Centre and almost gave themselves a chance to win their seventh with a late rally in the third period.
Unfortunately, the Candiens and Carey Price held firm, defeating the Penguins 3-2 Saturday night on Hockey Night in Canada.
Montreal took a 1-0 lead in the second period, then scored two in the first two and a half minutes of the third to take a commanding three goal lead. The Penguins bounced back with two goals by James Neal but couldn’t tie the game after a mad scramble in front of the net minder Price.
Max Pacioretty gave the Canadiens a lead with wrist shot 1:53 into the second period. Pacioretty forced a turnover in the neutral zone, skated in on goal and wired a hard wrister off the right post and in the net.
With coinciding minor penalties, Tomas Plekanec scored 1:05 into the third period on a wrist shot that found its way through the five-hole of Marc-Andre Fleury. Thirty seconds later, Pacioretty scored his second of the game by making a nifty move past Kris Letang and burying the shot short side.
But the Penguins didn’t give up. James Neal scored on the power play with 14:16 remaining in the game. Neal added his second goal of the game with under three minutes to play. Evgeni Malkin started the rush from behind his own net then passed the puck to Neal with one hand on his stick. Neal faked the shot then slid a backhander past Price. Malkin crashed into the end boards and remained on the ice for a few minutes.
He didn’t miss a shift.
The Russian forward battled crazily to get the next goal, attempting two backhanded shots from in close but they were denied.
The Penguins committed a penalty with under a minute to play and the Canadiens were able to hold on for the win.
- Neal has tallied six points in his last three games.
- Pacioretty has nine points in fourteen career games against Pittsburgh.
Three Stars
- Max Pacioretty
- Tomas Plekanec
- Carey Price
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
