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Montreal Canadiens: 5 Key observations from the Pittsburgh Penguin game

By Omar L

MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 13: Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins battles for the puck against Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on October 13, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in a shootout. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
MONTREAL, QC - OCTOBER 13: Evgeni Malkin #71 of the Pittsburgh Penguins battles for the puck against Paul Byron #41 of the Montreal Canadiens during the NHL game at the Bell Centre on October 13, 2018 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Canadiens defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3 in a shootout. (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /
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Montreal Canadiens
TORONTO, ONTARIO – JULY 28: Montreal Canadiens Pittsburgh Penguins (Photo by Andre Ringuette/Freestyle Photo/Getty Images) /

The Pittsburgh Penguins got the exhibition round of the Stanley Cup Qualifier going, and the Montreal Canadiens can learn a lot from it.

It was the first NHL game in months as the Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers lined up at centre ice. There were no fans, the ice was bumpy, but the feel of the game was still there. The entire hockey world tuned in, and the Montreal Canadiens should’ve had front-row seats to it all (figuratively speaking, of course).

It’s not as if this is the regular preseason. This is the only opportunity teams have to prepare and shake off any rust before the games get serious. And with the series being a best-of-five, there isn’t much time to play around.

So what did we learn about the Pittsburgh Penguins from their nearly 63 minutes of gameplay?

1) Top-6 Synergy

A reason why the Toronto Maple Leafs were a good exhibition matchup for the Montreal Canadiens was because of how well it matched Pittsburgh’s top-six. The Sidney Crosby line looked to be in sync with each player making and driving play.

Conor Sheary built off his strong training camp beating Carter Hart up high off a nice cross-ice feed from Jake Guentzel. Crosby also looked comfortable despite missing practices with injury, but he was strong enough to fight off the opposition along the boards and win puck battles.

The Evgeni Malkin line was shaky in many areas. Malkin himself had an irresponsible turnover at the end of the first, sending a pass right in front of Matt Murray that Sean Couturier picked off and scored on. He did turn it on in the latter half of the third period and was a key piece of Jason Zucker’s game-tying goal. Byran Rust got his opportunities but missed on all of them, especially on a chance where the upper half of the net was clear.

It’s not perfect, but it was a place to start. Crosby’s line is always going to be at it’s best, but if the Malkin takes it’s time to turn on, it’ll be important for the Montreal Canadiens to pressure them quickly and force them into uncomfortable situations.

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