Jeff Petry certainly did not imagine ending his return to the Bell Center sitting in the penalty box.
Yet that’s where he was when Kirby Dach gave the Canadiens a dramatic 3-2 win in overtime.
A goal that allowed the Montrealers to defeat the powerful Pittsburgh Penguins and end a short streak of two losses.
This first goal from Dach in the blue, white and red uniform concluded a brilliant comeback. Down 2 to 0, following two goals from Evgeni Malkin, the troops of Martin St-Louis fought hard. Even the coach played his part by withdrawing his goalkeeper with two and a half minutes to go in the third period. Seconds later, Cole Caufield tied the game.
In each of their first two games of the season, the Penguins had moved the strings on six occasions. Given the magnitude of the task that seemed to await his players, St-Louis had advised them to spend as much time as possible in opposing territory.
Pressure and circulation of the puck deep in enemy territory allowed the locals to often buzz near Casey DeSmith’s net.
The trio of Juraj Slafkovsky, Jake Evans and Mike Hoffman, from whom little was expected, applied these concepts profusely. Same thing for the duo of Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield, to whom we had paired Sean Monahan.
Two points for Guhle
Excited at the idea of being on the same rink as Sidney Crosby, Kaiden Guhle quickly regained his senses.
The most used player by St-Louis (24 min 43 s), mainly against the trio of the famous number 87, the 20-year-old Albertan did wonderfully well. In addition to causing three favorable turnovers, he collected the first two points of his NHL career.
It was he who set the table for Suzuki’s second goal of the season by giving him the disc with a solid backhand pass in the neutral zone.
He was also complicit in Caufield’s equalizing goal.
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Nick Suzuki
He spent more than 22 minutes on the playing surface, an eternity for a forward We understand Martin St-Louis for having trusted him In addition to scoring and getting an assist, he fired eight shots and won 67 of his bets in play, including the one that led to the equalizer scored by Cole Caufield
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Arber Xhekaj
We suspected it was going to happen, but, for the moment, the game of the NHL is far too fast for him His difficulty in keeping pace prompted him to receive two penalties The 21-year-old Ontarian would do well to spend a few weeks with the Rocket of Laval, where it could develop at a pace that suits it better
First period
No goal
Punishments: No punishment
Second period
1-Pit: Evgeni Malkin (2) (Pettersson, Rust)3:52
2-Pit: Evgeni Malkin (3) (Rust, Joseph)7:56
Penalties: Dach (Mon) 4:58, Xhekaj (Mon) 16:54, Petry (Pit) 19:00
Third period
3-Mon: Nick Suzuki (2) (Guhle, Hoffman)1:10
4-Mon: Cole Caufield (3) (Drouin, Guhle)17:40
Penalties: Xhekaj (Mon) 10:25, Petry (Pit) 12:09
Prolongation
5-Mon: Kirby Dach (1) (Monahan, Suzuki)AN-3:09
Penalties: Penalty: Petry (Pit) 1:46
Shoot to the net
Pittsburgh 6 – 15 – 6 – 1 – 28 Montreal 11 – 13 – 11 – 4 – 39
Guardians:
Pit: Casey DeSmith (PP, 0-0-1) Mon: Samuel Montembeault (G, 1-1-0)
Numerical advantages:
Pit: 0 in 3, Mon: 1 in 3
Referees:
Francis Charron, Tom Chmielewski
Linesmen:
Julien Fournier, Trent Knorr
ASSISTANCE:
21 105
Love and hate towards Petry
As is customary for players facing their old roster for the first time, Jeff Petry was treated to his tribute video during the first commercial break. Applauded warmly, the American waved to the crowd. For the rest of the match, the defender received his share of boos, sometimes more noticeable, sometimes muffled in the 400 sections. For his part, Ryan Poehling was treated to a more sober welcome. He had to content himself with a mention “Welcome back! on the scoreboard.
A rare victory
Kirby Dach’s goal gave the Canadian a rare victory against the Penguins on the Bell Center ice rink. It was only the second time in the last seven meetings that the Habs defeated the boards in Crosby at home. He had not arrived there since October 13, 2018.
Solid penalty kill
The massive attack could not have chosen a better moment to produce its first goal of the season, the one that gave victory to CH. However, the team’s shorthanded outfit is worth mentioning. The units that Martin St-Louis deploys short of a man do a colossal job. They held off the Penguins’ big guns on three occasions and allowed only one goal in 12 appearances on the ice this season.
Allen again dad
The Canadian had to call on Samuel Montembeault to face the Penguins’ shots in addition to recalling Cayden Primeau from the Laval Rocket. This time, it’s not an injury, but rather the arrival of the stork, a third time for the Allen family, which kept Jake Allen away from the Bell Center on Monday.