Pittsburgh has gone 12-4-3 within the final 19 video games towards Montreal, whereas Sidney Crosby has 23-40-63 totals in 48 profession video games towards the Habs.
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It’s not a shock the Penguins beat the Canadiens 3-2 in extra time Saturday evening in Pittsburgh.
It’s additionally not a shock Sidney Crosby picked up an help for the Penguins.
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The Penguins at the moment are 12-4-3 of their final 19 video games towards the Canadiens. In 48 profession video games towards Montreal, Crosby has 23-40-63 totals.
Kaiden Guhle and Juraj Slafkovsky scored for the Canadiens, whereas Lars Eller, Jake Guentzel and Marcus Pettersson scored for the Penguins.
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Guhle opened the scoring for the Canadiens at 15:53 of the primary interval on a ravishing setup from fellow defenceman Mike Matheson. It was Guhle’s fourth aim of the season, whereas Matheson picked up his twenty seventh help to match his profession excessive in factors with 34. Cole Caufield additionally picked up an help, extending his level streak to 9 video games, throughout which he has 6-6-12 totals.
Eller, a former Canadien who was taking part in in his 1,000th NHL sport, tied the rating 1-1 at 4:05 of the second interval, banging a rebound previous goalie Jake Allen for his ninth aim of the season.
Slafkovsky put the Canadiens up 2-1 when he scored his seventh aim of the season at 12:23 of the second interval on an influence play. Slafkovsky was making an attempt to make a go to Caufield, however the puck deflected off Penguins defenceman Ryan Graves and went behind goalie Tristan Jarry. It was Slafkovsky’s third power-play aim this season.
Guentzel tied the rating once more at 10:03 of the third interval on a ravishing backhand go from Crosby, who reached the 50-point mark this season with 27-23-50 totals in 46 video games. This marks the seventeenth time in his 19-year NHL profession that the 36-year-old Crosby has hit the 50-point mark. Solely 20 gamers in NHL historical past have recorded 50 factors in at the least 17 seasons.
Highway to the Cup
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The Canadiens managed the puck for a lot of the first two minutes of extra time, nevertheless it was Pettersson who scored the winner on the 2:43 mark when he beat Allen excessive to the brief aspect over the goalie’s glove hand on a two-on-on break because the Penguins improved their report to 22-17-7. The Canadiens fell to 20-21-8 as they head into the bye week of their schedule.
The Penguins outshot the Canadiens 33-27.
“I feel we performed an honest sport,” Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki instructed reporters in Pittsburgh. “I feel we’d need just a few performs again. We weren’t executing on a few of our offensive probabilities that might have put them away. It was a very good effort for us, however they discovered a method to win in extra time on the two-on-one.”
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Allen bought the beginning in aim for the second time in three video games, coming off a 4-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators on Tuesday evening on the Bell Centre. His report fell to 5-9-3 with a 3.43 goals-against common and a .901 save proportion.
“We needed to exit on the appropriate foot,” Allen instructed reporters in Pittsburgh. “Clearly, we needed the W. However guys competed laborious, performed laborious. A continuation from our final sport (a 4-3 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday evening on the Bell Centre with Samuel Montembeault in aim). Plenty of compete, a whole lot of effort. We bought one of many two (factors), however guys nonetheless ought to preserve their heads excessive heading into this bye week, benefit from the week off and get regrouped right here.
“I used to be glad I used to be going to get a few video games this week,” Allen added because the Canadiens proceed to hold three goalies, together with Cayden Primeau. “I haven’t had that shortly. So to have the ability to get two in a single week, simply to be ok with my sport heading into this break. Now we get an opportunity to take the load off a bit of bit mentally and bodily after which come again subsequent weekend and get again at it as a result of we all know come February, March, April it’s a condensed schedule and it’s going to be a tricky grind.”
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There’s a very good likelihood Allen received’t nonetheless be with the Canadiens following the March 8 NHL commerce deadline.
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The Canadiens received’t be again on the ice till per week from Sunday when they’ll observe within the afternoon on the CN Sports activities Advanced in Brossard. The one exception is Suzuki, who will participate within the NHL All-Star Weekend in Toronto. The Canadiens’ subsequent sport might be on Tuesday, Feb. 6, once they face the Capitals in Washington.
The Canadiens are 4 factors forward of their tempo from final season once they had a 20-25-4 report after 49 video games.
Head coach Martin St. Louis instructed reporters in Pittsburgh there wasn’t a lot he didn’t like about his group’s sport towards the Penguins other than the ultimate outcome.
Guhle, a defenceman who’s 14 years youthful than Crosby, was matched up towards him a lot of the sport.
“It was enjoyable,” Guhle instructed reporters in Pittsburgh. “You need to play towards these guys. I imply, he’s Sidney Crosby. I’ve been watching that man since I used to be born, principally. It’s all the time enjoyable if you get to go up towards him. It’s cool. It’s undoubtedly nonetheless star-struck moments at instances if you line up towards him otherwise you’re proper beside him in a faceoff or no matter. Now it’s extra simply taking part in and he’s simply one other nice participant on this league.”
And he’s nonetheless going robust.
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