The fathers of the Montreal Canadiens were treated to a highly entertaining hockey game in Pittsburgh, but a win slipped out of their sons’ hands at the very last second.
Shootout goals from David Perron and Sidney Crosby sealed a 4-3 win for the Penguins, who improved to 10-5-0 on the season.
Montreal’s Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais came up empty in the breakaway competition.
Pittsburgh came into a game Crosby had referred to as a “measuring-stick test” having won nine of its last 11, wanting to avenge a 3-2 loss to Montreal on October 13. Marc-Andre Fleury made 34 saves, if you count the two in the shootout.
Let’s take a closer look at the other things we learned in Montreal’s 17th game of the season.
Crosby came alive
Crosby had recorded at least one point in each of his 15 previous games against the Canadiens in Pittsburgh, but was shut out in the October loss.
13 seconds into the game’s first shift, he set up Pascal Dupuis to put the Penguins up 1-0.
In the third period, with the Penguins trailing 3-2, with 6:25 remaining, Crosby made a brilliant play in the neutral zone to send Patric Hornqvist up ice, where he tied the game with an unstoppable shot.
Crosby then pushed a backhand past goaltender Mike Condon’s left pad in the shootout to cement two points in the standings for the Penguins.
Shockingly, it was only Crosby’s second multi-point game of the season. Surely, it won’t be his last.
Penguins battled back
The Canadiens, who had a rough start to the game, dismantled Pittsburgh in the second period.
Goals from Brendan Gallagher and Brian Flynn were part of a 13-1 shot advantage Montreal established in the middle frame, allowing them to take a 3-2 lead into the third period.
The Penguins outshot the Canadiens 19-12 over the final 25 minutes, and broke a terrible streak of losing games in which they trailed coming into the third period. They did it against a Montreal team that had outscored their opposition 23-8 in third periods of games.
Desperate Montreal penalty kill
Part of the reason Pittsburgh regained control of the hockey game in the third was due to a power play opportunity with 2:17 left.
Condon made three saves on Phil Kessel and another one on Hornqvist to lead the way for Montreal’s penalty kill and bring his team to overtime.
In the extra frame, the Penguins earned a 4-on-3 power play after Montreal’s Brendan Gallagher and Tom Gilbert got caught on a line change that forced too many players onto the ice for the Canadiens.
This time, the desperation of Tomas Plekanec, Alexei Emelin and Jeff Petry, then that of Torrey Mitchell, P.K. Subban and Andrei Markov kept the Penguins from recording a single shot on the power play opportunity.
By not allowing a power play goal in the game, Montreal’s penalty kill improved to 89.7 per cent efficiency (2nd overall in the league).
Condon still experiencing things for the first time
It was his first game in Pittsburgh; his first NHL game with his father in attendance; his first game against Crosby, Kessel and Penguins leading scorer Evgeni Malkin.
Those players combined for four points, enabling Pittsburgh to become the first team to get more than two goals by Condon in a game this season.
He faced seven shots from Kessel in the game, turning aside six of them—the best of which came on a breakaway chance while the Canadiens were clinging tight to the 3-2 lead.
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Condon couldn’t be faulted for the loss. And he has still yet to complete a game without helping his team pick up points in the standings (6-0-2).
Healthy Dupuis, happy Dupuis
Dupuis had missed Pittsburgh’s last two games with symptoms doctors were concerned were related to his history with blood clots.
“Starting lineup, I got a big cheer there,” said Dupuis after the game. ‘I got a big cheer when I scored, so obviously it gives you the chills. It obviously keeps you alive.”
