CANADIENS
Montreal

PENGUINS
Pittsburgh

Lineup

Forward lines and defense pairings: 

[one_half]Pacioretty – Plekanec – Gallagher
Eller – Galchenyuk – Semin
Fleischmann – Desharnais – Weise
Flynn – Mitchell – Smith-Pelly[/one_half]

[one_half_last]Markov – Subban
Emelin – Petry
Beaulieu – Gilbert[/one_half_last]

Goaltenders:

Price
Condon

Scratches: Greg Pateryn, Jarred Tinordi, Paul Byron
Injured reserve:
Suspended: Zack Kassian

Game Report

Four wins to start the season. It has only happened three times before in Canadiens franchise history: 1955-56, 1970-71 and 1977-78. At the end of each of those seasons, the Canadiens were raising the Stanley Cup.

But before we start popping the champagne corks just yet, keep in mind that the combined record of the four teams beaten by the Habs this season is: 2-9-1.

So far, there have been two items in common in opposition playbooks: shoot high on Carey Price and slow down the Canadiens. Price had just four shots on goal in the first period. Over the final 40 minutes, the Pens fired 29 shots his way. Price shut the door including an outstanding save on Sidney Crosby. The Pens captain was visibly frustrated.

To slow down the Habs, Pittsburgh was physical from the drop of the puck, outhitting the Canadiens 14-5 in the first period. It seemed to have the desired effect as the Habs were skating in sand in the second period.  Michel Therrien called it a lapse in concentration.

Montreal found their legs in the third period outskating the Pens and picking up the game-winner from newly-signed winger Tomas Fleischmann.

When Carey Price wasn’t frustrating Sidney Crosby and friends it was Tomas Plekanec. The veteran centre has been the Canadiens most consistent forward this season.  Max Pacioretty fooled Marc-Andre Fleury twice with wristers from a distance with Brendan Gallagher playing a key role in both goals. Pacioretty now has four goals in four games and six points, tied for second in the league.

The much-maligned Alexei Emelin had another solid game with seven hits and one blocked shot in his 18:56 of ice-time. Andrei Markov and Jeff Petry each picked up an assist.

It would seem that the coach and Alex Semin are still getting to know each other. Like other games during the road trip, Semin spent a good deal of the first period bolted to the bench. Filling in on the second line was the not-so-gifted Brian Flynn. While the line of Alex Galchenyuk, Lars Eller and Semin showed signs of dominance again in this game, it’s clear that the enigma that is Alex Semin is having a negative impact on the output of his linemates.

The Canadiens now head back to Montreal to get ready for their home opener against the New York Rangers (3-1-0) on Thursday night.

▲     Carey Price, Tomas Plekanec, Tomas Fleischmann, Jeff Petry, Max Pacioretty, Andrei Markov, Lars Eller, Alexei Emelin, Brendan Gallagher, Torrey Mitchell

▼      Nathan Beaulieu, Alex, Semin, David Desharnais

1. Max Pacioretty  MTL
2. Carey Price  MTL
3. Beau Bennett  PIT

• “I’m glad that [Tomas Fleischmann] scored a big one and gave us the winning goal. When you’re looking down the road trip, we got contributions from every line and defenseman, and got some key saves from the goalies. So it’s a good team effort all the way around.“

Max Pacioretty

• “I talked earlier about needing everybody to touch the puck [on the power play] and getting guys moving. And I think, before I scored there, we had all five guys touch the puck and we were moving it quickly and were moving to get open for each other. And at the end of the day, it’s a pretty simple shot with a great screen in front by [Brendan Gallagher], but we created that space by everyone moving the puck and moving themselves as well.“

Carey Price

• “It’s just a pass across and you just do what goalies do. I just kicked out a limb and found a way to stop it. I got pretty lucky on it. I didn’t see it. It was just one of those ones that hit you.”

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby

• “I think certain parts [of the game were positive]. Definitely the second, I think we did a really good job of generating chances. We had a lot of in-zone time and momentum there. Obviously, third period they found another level. I thought that we didn’t quite get to the level we were in the second, but still had our fair share of chances.”
• “Nobody likes to lose, so I think it’s OK to be upset over that, but we definitely have to find ways to be better.”

Penguins coach Mike Johnston

• “Every game has been so different, it really has been. Players have been in and out in certain games, and I thought tonight for, I’d say, 80 percent of the game, I liked the contribution from our best players. There were some moments there were I thought we let our guard down, but in the second period, we had a lot of momentum.“