JESSICA BOPP – OVATHLETICS.COM
Game 3 of the Penguins/Canadiens matchup in the second round of the Eastern Conference playoffs was on Tuesday in Montreal.
It was not a very exciting game at all. The first and second periods saw no goal scoring. However, there were a few good chances and a decent amount of penalties handed out
Canadien Maxim Lapierre had a nice opportunity that went of the top cross bar behind Fleury.
Penguin Matt Cooke was stopped by Jaroslav Halak on a breakaway just a little into the second period. And so was Goligoski who wasn’t able to get Pittsburgh on the board either with his shot attempt.
A total of 10 penalties were dished out in the first two periods—six to Montreal and four to Pittsburgh.
Then, finally, in the beginning of the third period, Pittsburgh scored while on the power play. Sergei Gonchar passed the puck to Evgeni Malkin who slammed a one-timer past Halak. Alex Goligoski also recorded an assist on the goal.
Then to seal the deal, Pascal Dupuis scored an empty net goal with just 15 seconds left to play, bringing Pittsburgh to a 2-0 victory and a 2-1 lead in the series. Chris Kunitz and Mark Eaton assisted.
It was Fleury’s fourth NHL playoff shutout and his first in general since a 6-0 win over Philadelphia on May 18, 2008. And the Penguins shut out Montreal for the first time in 118 home playoff games.
Bill Guerin and Jordan Staal were both out for the game. Guering with undisclosed injury and Staal with a tendon injury. Therefore, AHL player Mark Letestu made his playoff debut for the Penguins on the fourth line alongside Tyler Kennedy and Matt Cooke.
Game 4 on Thursday night was much more interesting, but the outcome was not one that Pittsburgh fans enjoyed.
Montreal was on the board first with a sharp-angle shot from Tom Pyatt that went in the net past Marc-Andre Fleury.
But shortly after that, the Penguins got a surge of energy as Max Talbot and Chris Kunitz scored just 1:51 second apart from each other. Talbot tied the game at one on a breakaway for his second goal of the playoffs. Kunitz’s power play goal from Sidney Crosby and Alex Goligoski was ruled a goal after review. The puck went off his skate but still counted since it did not go off in with a distinct kicking motion.
There was not scoring in the second period and only one Pittsburgh penalty.
The third period, however, the Penguins lost their groove and the Canadiens took advantage of it.
At the beginning of the period, Maxim Lapierre and Brian Gionta scored just 93 seconds apart to give Montreal the lead. Lapierre’s wraparound goal tied the game and Gionta’s shot went off of Kris Letang’s skate and into the net.
It looked as though the Penguins were going to tie it up with only four minutes left in the game when Evgeni Malkin was on a breakaway down the ice. However, Halak made the save and ensured a 3-2 Montreal victory. The series was then tied at two games apiece.
Jordan Staal was back on the ice, playing less time than usual though. Guerin still did not play, and neither did Mike Rupp.
Game 5 on Saturday evening was a great game of hockey.
After deflecting the Montreal winning goal in his own net last game, Kris Letang made up for it by scoring the first goal of the night at 18:18 in the first. The power play goal was set up by Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar.
Fleury made a great save on Glen Metropolit’s attempt to tie the game.
But Pittsburgh also scored the second of the night when Brooks Orpik made a nice cross-ice pass to Sergei Gonchar who slammed the puck in the net past Jaroslav Halak. Mark Letestu also assisted.
The Penguins were unable to hold onto a second shutout when Mike Cammalleri scored a power play goal with only 30 seconds left in the game. The power play became a 6-on-4 when Montreal pulled Halak—and it worked to get one goal, but it wasn’t enough to get the second goal to tie the game.
Bill Guerin was back in the line-up for Pittsburgh, who won 2-1 and took a 3-2 lead in the series.
The Canadiens have to win on Monday night to force a Game 7. Otherwise, the Penguins will move on to the next round. And Montreal may have to play without top defensemen and former Penguin Hal Gill, who was cut near the end of the game after colliding into Chris Kunitz.
