Montreal Canadiens: A night of redemption over the Pittsburgh Penguins

The Montreal Canadiens are looking for back-to-back wins as they welcome the reigning Stanley Cup Champions to the Bell Centre.

Antti Niemi had a chance to face his former team on Tuesday in a Montreal Canadiens uniform, and he’ll get to do it again tonight. It’s a stretch of games the veteran probably doesn’t want to remember, but he originally started the season as a hopeful backup for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Unfortunately, after three games of allowing at least four goals, Niemi found himself on waivers and after a short stop in Florida, found a home in Montreal.

It’s a beat down story as to how well the 34-year-old has played for the Montreal Canadiens. He’s been an answer and true stop-gap giving the team a chance to win anytime he starts. Niemi got some competitive revenge over the Dallas Stars leading the Habs to a 4-2 win stopping 36 of 38 shots. It’ll be a much different challenge for this game, but Niemi will be looking to have the same performance against the Penguins.

Although Michael McCarron was called up from the Laval Rocket, he will not be playing. Claude Julien revealed after practice that the young centre is going to sit out of this game as he played in Laval’s 4-0 to the Toronto Marlies last night and just joined the team this morning. However, McCarron was rotating with Byron Froese on the fourth line which could hint at where he will slot in if he’s given a chance to play.

With McCarron sitting out, the only personnel change in the lineup is Logan Shaw slotting in for Andrew Shaw. However, Artturi Lehkonen and Charles Hudon swapped places as well which is most likely in response to the performance the former had with Alex Galchenyuk. Lehkonen walked out of the Bell Centre on Tuesday with his third two-goal night of the season. The Finnish native had more finish to his game and was able to put his shot on display for the Habs.

Nikita Scherbak wowed fans as well with his highlight reel goal on the power play. His confidence, similarly to a lot of the younger players on the team, is continuing to grow and it’s efforts such as those that will keep him in the NHL.

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The Penguins are coasting to another top divisional finish in the Metropolitan and further to another deep playoff run. The team is continuing to feel the sting of injuries with Matt Murray missing time with a concussion, but Tristan Jarry has stepped up to provide serviceable goaltending.

Pittsburgh is coming off a frustrating loss to the New York Rangers after squandering a 3-2 lead with less than five minutes left in the third. They’ll be looking to bounce back from that loss, and the Montreal Canadiens will have to be ready for that.

The three-headed monster in Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, and Phil Kessel are still leading the way in Pittsburgh. Malkin had a six-game point streak come to an end, but he still has Hart-worthy numbers with 39 goals and 48 assists. However, with five 20-goal scorers, including Malkin, the Penguins remain one of the league’s deeper teams.

Pittsburgh has also had a knack for giving up a lot of goals which could work in the Montreal Canadiens favour. They will also be the more rested group as it’ll be the second half of a back-to-back for the Penguins. Even so, it’ll take a lot of things to go right, and not much for things to go wrong.

Next: Injury Updates On Price and A. Shaw

Can the Habs attach another win to this home stretch? Can the youth take charge as they did against Dallas? Will Niemi get his night of redemption? Let us know in the comments below.