The Montreal Canadiens fell to 2-2 on the season with a 6-3 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thanksgiving Monday at the Bell Centre.
Hab killer Sidney Crosby was kept off the scoresheet, but it didn’t matter. Ex-Hab Lars Eller scored twice against his former club, while Evgeni Malkin added three points.
After saving the first 72 of 73 shots to start his season, Sam Montembeault allowed five goals on 30 shots, but he was hung out to dry by his teammates on multiple occasions.
Eller got things going in the first period with his first of the campaign.
Then Rickard Rakell was left all alone in front. He made it 2-0 Pens.
Before the first period came to an end, Kaiden Guhle continued his hot start with a one-timer blast to halve Pittsburgh’s lead at 2-1. Guhle has four points in four games after missing most of the preseason.
After getting outshot 11-6 in the first period, the Canadiens turned the tables in the second. Juraj Slafkovsky tied the game on the power play with his first goal of the season. Like Guhle, Slaf is also a point-per-game player four games in.
Then Montreal took their first lead of the night off a snipe from Emil Heineman on a two-on-one. 3-2 Habs.
Less than two minutes later, Eller crashed the party to tie the game 3-3. He made Slafkovsky and Montembeault look a little foolish on his second goal. All tied up at 40 minutes.
The Penguins pulled away in the third period, starting with Kevin Hayes scoring from in tight. Then Malkin and Kris Letang teamed up to give the Pens a two-goal advantage at 5-3.
The Habs pulled Montembeault with over three minutes to play in an attempt to mount a comeback, but the game ended with Malkin potting an empty netter to give the Pens a resounding 6-3 victory.
Lane Hutson had a couple of dazzling plays with the puck, but he and David Savard had rough nights in the plus-minus department. Hutson was -4 and Savard was -3. To be fair, they weren’t the only ones to struggle on the defensive side of things against the Pens last night. There were some wires crossed when it came to doubling back when Montreal’s defencemen jumped into the play.
The liveblog commenters weren’t affected by the tryptophan from the turkey: they were as energized as ever to talk Habs on holiday Monday. How was the inaugural broadcast on Amazon Prime Video, by the way? I watched at a family function where the game was on RDS, so I missed out on Montreal’s debut on the streaming service.
3. “Yup, they only played in the 2nd period. Deserve the loss. Monty gave up two goals to Lars Eller? High glove side both times. OMG. Weak. Well off his game tonight. Lane pinches, gets caught deep and Slaf covers but he’s the only one back on Eller’s first. Matheson pinches, almost caught deep, Slaf pinches along the wall, giving up 2 on 1. Then MM over commits to the board side, leaving Malkin and Letang, uggghhh. Have to be ready to play when the puck drops. Shots were 8-0 before they even woke up. Strong 2nd period. But weak 1st half of 3rd. Xhekaj didn’t cover Hayes on his goal. Andy failed to clear on Rakell goal. Too many mistakes. Oh well, can’t win them all.” — Edward Mahilum
2. “Savard — reputation as a great guy. Not helping. Matheson — great skater. Get caught up ice frequently. Not your fault Monty.” — John Barsevich
1. “Matheson hasn’t been that great so far this season.” — Ryan Katz