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Penguins Score Late, Hang On To Beat Canadiens, 3-2
Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Pascal Dupuis scored the go-ahead goal with 6:39 left in the third period, as the reigning Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins held on for a 3-2 win over the Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre.
Dupuis also registered an assist, while Sergei Gonchar had a goal and a helper for the Penguins, who suffered a 3-2 loss to Carolina on Monday. Pittsburgh, which also got a goal from Matt Cooke, has won four of its last six overall. Marc-Andre Fleury turned aside 19-of-21 shots.
Matt D'Agostini and Roman Hamrlik tallied for Montreal, which had a three-game winning streak snapped. Carey Price was solid, stopping 38-of-41 shots.
Pittsburgh broke a 2-2 tie with 6:39 left in the third period. Dupuis took a rink-wide pass from Brooks Orpik and fired a slap shot from the top of the left circle that handcuffed Price to put the Pens back in front.
Montreal killed off a power play shortly after, then pulled the goaltender in the waning moments, but was unable to sustain any offensive zone pressure and Pittsburgh prevailed.
Gonchar pinched in from his point position and put home a backhand pass from Bill Guerin from in close to open the scoring 6:38 into the contest.
Montreal then tied things at 10:48 of the second. The Habs won a battle along the left wing boards and the puck came out to D’Agostini, who fired a wrist shot from the top of the circle that squeezed under the arm of Fleury.
The Canadiens struck for a power-play goal just under three minutes later on Hamrlik’s wrister from the top of the left circle to make it a 2-1 game. However, Cooke tipped in a Gonchar point shot with 2:15 left to tie things and the game was deadlocked after two periods.
Pittsburgh improved to 3-0 against the Habs this year and has outscored Montreal by a 12-4 margin in those victories. The Pens have taken five straight and seven of nine overall in the series. Montreal has dropped four of its last five home tests against Pittsburgh.
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