The Montreal Canadiens took Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins and winning Game 2 could put the Pittsburgh Penguins in a real tough spot.
Ahead of Game 1, Zach Aston-Reese said he wasn’t sure what the Montreal Canadiens first line was. Ironically, they were on the ice when Jeff Petry dragged the puck around a diving Brandon Tanev and scored on Matt Murray for the overtime winner. The Pittsburgh Penguins may not fully give the team the win and instead see what Carey Price did and chalk it up to that, but either way, they’re down 1-0 in the series.
That’s been a slow trend throughout a number of these Play-In series. The least favoured team won first, including the Columbus Blue Jackets and Chicago Blackhawks. But trends don’t always continue, and it’ll be important for the Habs to build off the momentum generated from that Petry goal.
Although the game wasn’t perfect, Claude Julien is non to stick with what works. Therefore, we can expect the Montreal Canadiens to run the same lines and pairings from Game 1.
Montreal Canadiens Lineup
Forwards
Tatar-Danault-Gallagher
Drouin-Suzuki-Armia
Lehkonen-Kotkaniemi-Byron
Weal-Domi-Weise
Defence
Chiarot-Weber
Kulak-Petry
Ouellet-Mete
Goaltenders
Price
Lindgren
Julien has stuck to his word that the “fourth line” isn’t really a fourth line. Phillip Danault and Nick Suzuki‘s trio saw the highest times-on-ice, respectively, while Jesperi Kotkaniemi and Max Domi played a respective 8:55 and 9:40. They may not be putting up fancy possession stats, but the Habs coaching staff like what they’re seeing from them.
Pittsburgh is also not going to make any huge changes. Head coach Mike Sullivan said he liked a lot of what his team did and that it was minor fixes that needed to be put into place.
Pittsburgh Penguins
Forward
Guentzel-Crosby-Sheary
Zucker-Malkin-Rust
Marleau-McCann-Hornqvist
Aston-Reese-Blueger-Tanev
Defence
Dumoulin-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Johnson-Schultz
Goaltenders
Murray
Jarry
One thing the Penguins will like to improve is their handling of Carey Price and the power play. It’s a weird reality where a writer of the Habs is being critical of another team’s man advantage, but a 14% success rate scoring once on seven opportunities is a tough pill to swallow.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were stellar at 5v5, and Sullivan will try to keep that tempo going. But when it comes to Price, they’ll try to do more of what worked. It wasn’t the highlight reel goals that got past him, it was a banked shot off the skate and a deflection in the crease. If Pittsburgh goes for more of a full-frontal assault on Price, Shea Weber and Ben Chiarot need to ensure the front of the net is being cleared, putting more emphasis on physical presence.
Pittsburgh isn’t going to make it easy to go down 2-0 in the series. The Montreal Canadiens need to manage their starts properly and give Price support to limit the amount of time spent in their own zone for opportunities. If they can do that and capitalize on their own chances, the Habs should expect a positive result.