Canadiens: Three Keys to Victory Against the Penguins

The Canadiens Host the Penguins in a Wednesday Night Affair

Montreal Canadiens v Pittsburgh Penguins
Montreal Canadiens v Pittsburgh Penguins / Justin Berl/GettyImages
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The Canadiens are hosting the Pittsburgh Penguins for the first time this season on Wednesday night. The Penguins come to town with a nearly identical record to the Canadiens, having lost one less game, sitting at 12-12-3. Obviously, with an aging core of superstars led by Sidney Crosby, the goal is to compete for Stanley Cups, not keep their heads above water.

Starting tonight, they’ll look to right the ship against the Canadiens, who are 12-13-3 and coming off a loss on Sunday to the Predators. The Canadiens should be well rested with their last game coming on Sunday, while the Penguins played on Tuesday night, a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes.

Sam Montembeault will make his 100th career start against the Pens tonight, while we should expect to see Alex Nedeljkovic in goal for the Pens with Jarry playing last night. Montembeault is 6-4-1 with a .912 SV% and a 2.78 GAA this season, while Nedeljkovic has a 2-2-1 record with a .937 SV% and a 2.18 GAA.

The Canadiens will want to follow a certain formula to have success tonight. The Penguins would love to finish off a back-to-back going two for two, so we should expect a solid effort from them tonight. Here are some keys to the game for the Habs to prevent that from happening.

EARLY START

Getting off to a good start is important in any game, but it’s especially important for the Canadiens. This season, the Canadiens are 7-2-1 when they score first and just 5-11-2 when they don’t. Obviously, it seems like they would be better off getting the game’s first goal. But they haven’t done that enough this season.

And they should have the advantage with the Penguins playing yesterday and the Canadiens having the two days off. The Habs should come out flying, ideally potting a couple goals to mount an early lead. This is the kind of game you don’t want to play from behind.

The Canadiens have to make the most of the advantage the schedule has provided them. Every team in the league is on either side of these kinds of games from time to time; the really good teams take advantage of that. The Habs cannot let this opportunity go to waste; they must come out hot and get the game's first goal.

WIN THE BATTLE OF STARS

The Penguins may be hovering around .500 right now, but make no mistake, they have plenty of firepower on the team. And those guys are still difference-makers that the Canadiens would like to avoid from having big games.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens top players have struggled, particularly at even strength. There’s no time like the present to change that. Ideally, the Canadiens, win this game with their best players leading the charge. That means Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield get a couple points (preferably at five-on-five) and the Habs manage to keep the Pens stars in check.

Ironically, despite the star power the Penguins possess, they have one of the league’s worst powerplays, operating at just 11.4%. No, that is not a typo; it’s been that bad, as has the usually dominant Capitals powerplay, which is last in the NHL, operating at 8.2%. Weird times we live in. Still, it would be wise of the Canadiens not to give this group too many chances with the man advantage.

PLAY A FULL 60 MINUTES

We have already discussed the advantage the Canadiens possess, having more rest than the Penguins. They can use that to get off to a good start, but they must play a complete game. From start to finish, the Habs have to keep their foot on the gas to take full advantage of an aging Pittsburgh squad playing on back-to-back nights.

In Buffalo on Saturday, the Habs jumped out to a 2-0 lead, but relinquished that lead in the third and had to ask their goaltender to make 46 saves to get that game to a shootout. This included a penalty late in the third that carried into overtime that the Habs were able to kill off. They need to avoid performances like that on Wednesday.

Too often this year have we seen the Canadiens get off to bad starts, turn it on late, but ultimately come up short. And we’ve seen them get off to good starts before slowly letting their foot off the gas and falling apart. It’s a big reason why the Habs have so few regulation wins this season (just five, last in the NHL).

Tonight, the Canadiens are well rested, playing an older team (average age of 31.2 to MTL’s 26.5) on the second night of a back-to-back. The Canadiens have no excuse not to play a full 60 minutes tonight. They cannot ask their goaltender to be their best player, yet again. It’s time the leaders on the team step up, dig their heels in and play a complete game.

If the Canadiens can do these three things, it’s hard to see them losing this game. But that’s a big if, seeing as they’ve struggled to do those things consistently this year.

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