”That was a tough recreation to teach emotionally, as a result of we had so many nice moments after which we shoot ourselves within the foot,” Martin St. Louis mentioned.
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It was a recreation the Canadiens gave the impression to be in full management of, main the Penguins 3-1 after the primary interval.
By the tip of additional time, the Canadiens had generated a season-high 42 photographs in opposition to goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, making solely his sixth look this season.
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And but there Canadiens head coach Martin St. Louis was, sitting on the podium after a 4-3 shootout loss to Pittsburgh, pressured to reply questions on why his crew collected just one level as a substitute of two Wednesday night time on the Bell Centre.
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Typically the hockey gods merely aren’t smiling down upon a crew.
“I’m not stunned, I’m dissatisfied,” St. Louis mentioned. “That was a tough recreation to teach emotionally, as a result of we had so many nice moments after which we shoot ourselves within the foot. We had full management of that recreation and allow them to get again in it.”
Montreal jumped out to a 2-0 lead earlier than 13 minutes had elapsed in opposition to a Penguins crew that had performed the night time earlier than and appeared ripe for the selecting.
Defenceman David Savard, enjoying his second recreation since getting back from a fractured hand, opened the scoring at 6:24, making the most of an Eric Karlsson turnover, earlier than Jayden Struble produced his second objective in solely his eleventh NHL recreation.
Canadiens’ defencemen now have scored 23 targets this season, tying the Colorado Avalanche for the league lead. If solely Montreal may get comparable manufacturing from their forwards, they may not be fighting a 12-13-4 document.
Struble now has extra targets in 11 big-league video games than he produced in 31 contests as a senior with the Northeastern Huskies. Struble continues turning heads together with his spectacular play. He began the sequence on which he scored behind the web, skated up-ice, made a pleasant zone-entry cross, went to the web and scored on a rebound. It seems Struble is with the Canadiens to remain.
Street to the Cup
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Even after Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby minimize the deficit in half later within the interval, Sean Monahan restored the two-goal cushion with a uncommon Canadiens power-play objective at 15:20 of the primary, changing Mike Matheson’s rebound from the crease.
Montreal bumped into penalty hassle within the second interval, taking three successive minors and permitting two power-play targets — by Jake Guentzel and Crosby, who leads the Penguins with 17 targets. Crosby, 36, added an help and now has 31 factors by 28 video games. Crosby’s on tempo for 50 targets and 94 factors.
“He can nonetheless play rather a lot at his age,” defenceman Kaiden Guhle mentioned. “He’s nonetheless among the best on the planet. He’s a particular participant. It looks like he’s virtually getting higher yearly. He’s not slowing down in any respect. It’s particular to be on the ice with him. It’s enjoyable to play in opposition to him for certain.
“This is able to have been an enormous win for our group. It’s unlucky we didn’t come out with that one. It’s good to get some extent, however that was our recreation available.”
The Penguins had misplaced 4 consecutive video games, and 9 of 12, earlier than Tuesday’s victory in opposition to Arizona. And though Pittsburgh’s energy play had struggled, going 13 video games earlier than producing two in opposition to the Coyotes, it could possibly be argued the Canadiens additionally proved to be the right tonic.
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The Canadiens dominated the third interval, outshooting Pittsburgh 11-3, however didn’t convert two energy performs, together with one late in regulation after Drew O’Connor interfered with goalie Samuel Montembeault. Montreal didn’t generate a shot whereas O’Connor was within the field.
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One other alternative with the person benefit was squandered in additional time, after Evgeni Malkin tripped Cole Caufield. A minimum of this time the Canadiens produced 4 photographs.
It took an unbelievable 12 rounds of the shootout earlier than Jansen Harkins — with zero factors by 13 video games — beat Montembeault, who received a bit, however not sufficient, of the shot. The NHL document is 20 rounds, Dec. 16, 2014, between Florida and Washington.
“It was present tonight,” Montembeault mentioned. “Clearly the followers cherished it. It could actually go both approach in a shootout.”
The Canadiens are actually 6-9-2 on dwelling ice and conclude this three-game homestand Saturday night time in opposition to the New York Islanders, earlier than embarking on a mind-boggling seven-game highway journey over Christmas and New Years — an annual tour that historically destroys their season.
Montreal gamers haven’t any clarification as to why the crew struggles at dwelling.
“I don’t even know what our document is at dwelling,” Montembeault mentioned. “I do know our total document, however don’t know what it’s at dwelling or on the highway.
“There’s no clarification. We play in entrance of our followers. We should always come out sturdy each night time and use their vitality as motivation.”
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