MONTREAL AT PITTSBURGH
WHEN: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, October
6, 2018
WHERE: PPG PAINTS Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
The Pittsburgh Penguins left plenty for which to be
desired in their all-offense, little-defense season-opening win while the
Montreal Canadiens were able to take morsels of positives out of a
heartbreaking loss to an Original Six rival. The Penguins bid to tighten up
their defense and maintain their recent dominance of the Canadiens on Saturday
when the teams meet at PPG Paints Arena.
"We were pleased with the results of the game, but if we played that game
10 times over, we'd win five and lose five. That's not a formula for
success," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said on Friday, one day removed
from a 7-6 overtime victory over Washington. The Penguins had 12 different
players record a point -- with seven collecting multi-point performances -- in
that contest, highlighted by Kris Letang capping a two-goal effort with the
overtime winner to match Paul Coffey's franchise record for points by a
defenseman (440). While the Steel City was whipped into a frenzy with the
offensive explosion, Montreal gave Toronto all it could handle before dropping
a 3-2 overtime decision on Thursday. "I'm disappointed in the loss. You
always think you could have, should have won the game, but I'm not disappointed
in the effort we put out," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, CITY, TVAS (Montreal), AT&T
Sportsnet-Pittsburgh
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (0-0-1): Andrew Shaw traveled a long road in
his recovery from offseason knee surgery as well as a concussion, so one can
imagine his elation after scoring in the season opener -- all with his wife,
Chaunette, and 3 1/2-month-old daughter in attendance. "My first game back
after having surgery, and fighting through some injuries, to have that support
from my family and have my little girl there, it was pretty exciting," the
27-year-old Shaw said. "It's a moment she might not remember, but I'll
never forget it." Fellow forward Artturi Lehkonen, who also scored versus
the Maple Leafs, found the net in a 5-3 setback to Pittsburgh on March 15.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (1-0-0): Evgeni Malkin (one goal, two assists)
matched Letang with a three-point performance in the season opener and aims to
carry that success versus the Canadiens, against whom he scored two goals and
set up four others as the Penguins posted a three-game sweep of the
regular-season series in 2017-18. "I hope we score seven goals, but don't
have six against us," Malkin said. Pittsburgh tallied five times in all
three encounters with Montreal last season, with Patric Hornqvist (four goals,
one assist) and captain Sidney Crosby (one goal, three assists) playing
significant roles.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh LW Jake Guentzel
scored twice on Thursday to pick up where he left off in 2017-18, when he had
11 multi-point performances during the regular season and six more in the
playoffs.
2. Julien was tight-lipped on Friday
about any potential lineup changes after veterans C Tomas Plekanec and D Karl
Alzner were made healthy scratches for the season opener.
3. Penguins G Matt Murray has
stopped 43 of 46 shots to win both career encounters versus the Canadiens.
PREDICTION: Penguins 4, Canadiens 1
No comments:
Post a Comment