Defenseman Alex Goligoski returned to the lineup for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their game against the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre last night, and the hope was that his presence might help the Pens' power play woes.
But after another miserable performance on the man advantage -- going o-for-5, including failing on 3 straight chances in the 3rd period with the game tied at 2 -- it seems that the only recourse Pittsburgh has is to start declining penalties.
And they should, because they're a much better 5-on-5 team, as evidenced by their overall 41-21 shot advantage last night and the fact that LW Pascal Dupuis got the game-winner at even strength with about 6 minutes left in the final frame as soon as the Pens' final man-advantage expired.
End result? Pittsburgh-3; Les Habitants-2.
The Penguins stopped a 2-game losing streak with the victory, and halted the Canadiens 3-game winning streak.
It also raised the Pens' record against the Canadiens to 3-0 this season, and put them into a tie with New Jersey at the top of the Atlantic Division. Both teams have 43 points, one point behind the NHL leaders: the San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals.
Sergei Gonchar helped Pittsburgh set the tone early last night, capitalizing on the tempo they set from the outset by scoring 6 minutes in.
Sarge broke down the slot uncovered and took a beautiful backhand saucer pass in the slot from Bill Guerin before depositing a backhander by Montreal netminder Carey Pricce.
RW Matt D'Agostini and Defenseman Roman Hamrlik then scored a few minutes apart in the middle of the 2nd period for the Canadiens to give them a 2-1 lead, but Matt Cooke tied the game with just a few minutes left in the frame by deflecting in a Gonchar shot from the point.
That set the stage for Dupuis' game-winner in the third, which actually was the result of a misplay by Price when he tried to glove #9's rising slapshot, but only had it deflect off his glove and down into the net behind him.
Things got interesting for a moment a minute or so later when Montreal thought they tied the game by whacking a loose puck around the net past Penguins' goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, but referee Chris Lee lost sight of the puck and blew the whistle (or was in the process of blowing the whistle) just as the puck was being knocked in.
While that's the second time in the last few games the Penguins got a little bit of a break like that, it is what it is. If the referee is in the process of blowing the whistle, it doesn't matter if the puck goes in before the sound is heard.
You couldn't tell that to the Canadiens' fans last night, though.
No matter. The Penguins regained some of their equilibrium with the win, and return home to face the Florida Panthers on Saturday night, before they will quickly get re-acquainted with their arch rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, in a home-and-home series next week.
NOTES:
LW Chris Kunitz has practiced with the team for 4 straight days, and could return to the lineup on Saturday. If not then, he'll certainly return next week. Getting Kunitz back would give the Penguins a completely healthy bunch for the first time in months, and it will be interesting to see who HC Dan Blysma decides to sit down. I think he might very well scratch LW Ruslan Fedotenko. Blysma has already had to have one-sit down with Feds about his play already this season, and he clearly is slumping. Time will tell.
More this weekend.
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