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Canadiens 3, Penguins 2

By Dave Molinari 8 years ago

A quick look at the Penguins’ 3-2 loss to Montreal in their home opener at Consol Energy Center Tuesday night:

*** The loss was the Penguins’ third in a row, and means they have lost the first three games of the season for the fifth time in franchise history. It also happened in 1983, 1996, 2001 and 2005.

*** Penguins center Sidney Crosby, who did not have a shot in the previous two games, recorded four against the Canadiens. He was, however, unable to convert on a quality chance from inside the right circle with 2:17 left in regulation, when the Penguins were trying to overcome a one-goal deficit for the third time in the game.

*** The Penguins have not had a lead in any of their three games.

*** Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, on the Penguins’ winless streak: “We know we’re better than this. It seems like we’ve been getting better over the last three games, but still, we should have been ready to go from Game 1. It’s going to be tough to make the playoffs. Every year, the race is always close. We need to get some points and get on the board here. It’s disappointing. It’s still early, but we’ve got to get off to it.”

*** The Penguins, who have struggled to score goals all season, finally got their offense in synch during the second period, when Beau Bennett and Kris Letang scored in a span of four minutes, 38 seconds. “In the second period, we did some things right,” left winger Chris Kunitz said. “[But] you can’t do it for five or six shifts. You have to do it for the whole 60 minutes.”

*** Max Pacioretty scored Montreal’s first two goals, and the one he got at 5:46 of the opening period to break a 0-0 tie probably was a portent: The Canadiens now are 10-0-1 the past 11 times they’ve opened the scoring against the Penguins.

*** Tomas Fleischmann’s scored the game-winner at 5:20 of the third, when he beat Fleury from the inner edge of the left circle to cap a sequence that began with Canadiens center David Desharnais hooking Penguins winger Sergei Plotnikov in the Montreal end. “It seemed like he got hooked pretty good,” Fleury said. “But I guess the ref thought it was OK.”

*** The Penguins went 29-23 on faceoffs, led by Matt Cullen at 6-1.

*** Bennett was the Penguins’ best forward, and scored his goal on an excellent individual effort. He stole the puck in the defensive zone, then lugged it up the right side of the ice before throwing a shot past Montreal goalie Carey Price from above the faceoff dot. “Price was kind of cheating to his glove for my first few shots, so I just decided to throw it low-blocker,” Bennett said.

*** Right winger Patric Hornqvist was one of several players to note that the Penguins upgraded their performance, although he acknowledged that bar wasn’t set terribly high. “We played way better than we did in Phoenix [during a 2-1 loss last Saturday]. Phoenix was probably the worst game I’ve been a part of since I came here a year ago.”

*** The Penguins were 0-for-2 on the power play, leaving them 0-for-9 on the season. Johnston did, however, reunite Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the No. 1 unit.

*** More Hornqvist: “We improved a little bit, but some parts of our game are not there right now. That’s something we have to get corrected really, really quickly.”