JESSICA BOPP – OVATHLETICS.COM
Game 6 was played Monday night in Montreal.
The Canadiens were first on the board when Mike Cammalleri scored just 1:13 in. Tomas Plekanec passed the puck to Cammalleri who blasted the puck past Marc-Andre Fleury for a 1-0 lead very early in the game.
Sidney Crosby scored his first goal in seven games at 7:22 by batting the puck out of the air and into the net past Jaroslav Halak. Mark Eaton and Chris Kunitz assisted.
The Penguins took a 2-1 lead as Kris Letang scored a power play goal with a nice shot from the slot that made its way into the net. He scored twice in two games. Crosby and Sergei Gonchar assisted on the goal.
But Mike Cammalleri tied it at two with his second goal of the night with a backhander. He has 11 goals in 13 games. Andrei Kostitsyn and Roman Hamrlik recorded assists.
The Canadiens took a 3-2 lead wth Jaroslav Spacek’s slap shot, which was assisted by Scott Gomez and Brian Gionta.
Halfway through the third period, Maxime Lapierre’s unassisted goal made it 4-2 in favor of Montreal.
Bill Guerin’s goal from Gonchar and Alex Goligoski at 18:36 put the Penguins within one, but they were unable to get another goal as time expired.
The Canadiens won 4-3, forcing a Game 7.
The final game between the Canadiens and the Penguins was played on Wednesday night at Mellon Arena.
The tone for the entire night was set just 10 seconds into the game when Sidney Crosby drew a penalty for boarding Josh Gorges. The call was unfair and led to Montreal getting the first goal of the night. Brian Gionta’s power play goal from P.K. Subban and Scott Gomez just 32 seconds in put the Canadiens ahead 1-0.
Later in the second period, Dominic Moore scored for the Canadiens from Roman Hamrlik to make it 2-0.
Scoring his seventh goal of the series, Mike Cammalleri made it 3-0. Tomas Plekanec and Jaroslav Spacek assisted.
Then Travis Moen scored a short-handed goal while on the breakaway, making his way past Sergei Gonchar quite easily and putting the puck in the net. So just after 25 minutes of playing time, the Canadiens had a 4-0 lead.
Marc-Andre Fleury was pulled after that and Brent Johnson took over in net. Fleury had given up four goals on just 13 shots.
The Penguins came to life a bit after that and Chris Kunitz and Jordan Staal scored in the second period to make it 4-2. Kris Letang and Pascal Dupuis assisted Kunitz’s goal and Alexei Ponikarovski and Alex Goligoski assisted on Staal’s
Twenty five seconds into the third it looked as though Crosby had a chance to score, but Halak made one of the biggest saves that night and stopped Crosby from putting the puck in the net while the Penguins were on a 4-on-3.
Brian Gionta quieted any hopes that the Penguins had when he made it 5-2 with 10 minutes left to play while the Canadiens were on a power play. Mike Cammalleri and Scott Gomez assisted on his seventh of the playoffs.
The Penguins played what could have possibly been their worst game this season, losing 5-2 to the Montreal Canadiens, the team with the worst record who made it to the playoffs. And they accomplished something that no team has done since the playoff format was revamped in 1994, which is beat the Presidents’ Trophy winner and Stanley Cup champion in back-to-back rounds as an eighth-seeded team. The Canadiens will now move on to the Eastern Conference finals.
Wednesday night’s game was the final game to be played at Mellon Arena and it ended in a bittersweet way. The Penguins lost to Montreal 2-1 in their first game at Mellon Arena — then named the Civic Arena—on Oct. 11, 1967. And now, they ended it by losing to the same team 5-2.
Despite losing, the Penguins saluted the crowd, raising their sticks to honor their fans. Captain Sidney Crosby raised his stick highest of all and then tapped it on the ice to show his appreciation. Many fans stayed to watch a video tribute to the nation’s first and only indoor, retractable-roof arena.
We will all be rooting the Penguins on next season, when they move into their new arena, the Consol Energy Center, right down the street.
