Fresh off a thrilling 3-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Tuesday's season opener, the Montreal Canadiens continue their road trip Saturday with a marquee matchup against Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The game is expected to be a hard-fought battle between two playoff teams as Montreal has recently started to gain the upper hand in the series, winning two of the last three meetings.
However, Pittsburgh has long controlled the matchup, taking seven of the last nine against the Canadiens. The Habs will need a strong performance if they want to come out on top and start the season 2-0.
While much of the attention will go to the likes of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, anyone who missed the Habs' opener may want to focus on the team's current top performer, bottom-line forward Josh Anderson.
Josh Anderson has chance to build an early season hot streak
Entering Saturday, the Burlington, Ontario native is tied for the team lead in points after recording a goal and an assist, three shots on goal and four hits while finishing plus-two in the opener, and he has the chance to extend his hot start.
Anderson has often been dangerous at the start of seasons throughout his career. Last year was a down opening month, as he finished with just two points in 11 games, but he has already matched that total in a single night this season, which could point to a longer trend of hot starts.
Looking at his full career heading into this season, Anderson has 24 goals and 18 assists for 42 points in 95 games during the opening month of a season. That figure includes January 2020 due to the COVID-19 delay and 2015, when he began the season in November.
Anderson also has a solid track record against Pittsburgh, especially as of late. Last December, the Habs played a home-and-home series against the Penguins in some of their final games before the holiday break.
In the opener of that set, Anderson was the x-factor, scoring a pair of goals in a decisive 4-0 Montreal victory. Those two goals brought his totals to six goals and three assists for nine points in his last 18 games against the Penguins.
Anderson has proven to be a physical, hard-checking 20-to-30-point player over his career, but a 0.50 point-per-game pace against a playoff-contending team, combined with a trend of solid starts to the season, is nothing to dismiss and could mean another standout performance is on the way for the 32-year-old veteran.
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