Penguins 6 – Canadian 3 | The Penguins score a victory over the Canadian

The Pittsburgh Penguins scored two goals in just under four minutes in the third period and recorded a 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night at the Bell Centre.

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Kevin Hayes first broke a 3-3 tie at 7:47 when he grabbed a loose puck in front of Samuel Montembeault’s net after a shot from veteran defenseman Erik Karlsson.

Kristopher Letang added the insurance net on a three-way play started by defender Matt Grzelcyk and to which veteran Evgeni Malkin ably contributed. Former Canadian Lars Eller also contributed to the Penguins’ triumph with his first two goals of the season. Rickard Rakell also beat Montembeault, who blocked 26 pucks.

Malkin added an empty-net goal with 70 seconds on the clock for his third point of the evening. For the Canadian, who suffered a first setback at home, Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky and Emil Heineman deceived the vigilance of Tristan Jarry, who received 27 shots.

Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson collected two assists each for the Canadian (2-2-0), who hoped to win three of his first four games to start a campaign for the first time since the 2016-2017 season (3- 0-1). The Canadian will play his next game Thursday evening at home, against the Los Angeles Kings.

Speed ​​beaters

When the game started, the Penguins had a roster with 10 thirty-somethings, nine of whom were at least 31 years old, compared to five among the Canadians. However, it was the visitors who displayed the most energetic legs in the first period. And especially during the first half of the engagement.

The Penguins got the first eight shots of the game before the Canadian tested Jarry, courtesy of Jake Evans, from the top of the slot, with 6:18 remaining in the period.

This inertia of the Habs also ended up weighing on its supporters. Some two minutes earlier, they had greeted with derision a weak shot from Evans, low to the ice, which Jarry had grabbed with the glove and which was not even counted.

The inertia of Martin St-Louis’ squad during the first period also helped the Penguins build a two-goal lead. Eller opened the scoring at 6:54, taking advantage of a fall in central territory by David Savard and then the fact that Lane Hutson had slightly committed to Jesse Puljujarvi in ​​the defensive zone.

Hutson’s maneuver provided just enough space for the former Canadian to beat Montembeault with a shot in the upper left after receiving the Finn’s pass.

Rakell doubled the Penguins’ lead about 10 minutes later on a one-timer, after effective work from Michael Bunting and Evgeni Malkin behind the Canadian’s net. Before the end of the period, Guhle woke up the Canadian and all his supporters by beating Jarry with a shot from the right point, helped by Matheson and Suzuki.

This goal had obvious and favorable repercussions for the Montreal team, which largely dominated the middle period. After only two minutes, the Canadian was offered a first numerical advantage and he only took 51 seconds to capitalize.

Forgotten at the mouth of the net, Slafkovsky deflected Suzuki’s pass behind Jarry, who had advanced in anticipation of a shot from the Habs captain. After scoring, Slafkovsky looked at his captain and pretended to remove his helmet, to thank his center player for the skillful pass he had just served him.

The Canadian even took the lead for the first time in the match thanks to Heineman, who scored unassisted at 14:26 during a two-on-one breakaway with Oliver Kapanen. However, Eller brought both clubs back to square one less than two minutes later, after he beat Matheson in the central zone for possession of the puck.

The Canadian took advantage of a second power play when Eller was caught for obstruction early in the third period. The Penguins would then nail the Canadian’s coffin.