(Sports Network) - The defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins will try to end Montreal's surprising postseason run tonight, when they visit the eighth-seeded Canadiens for Game 6 of the Eastern Conference semifinals at Bell Centre.
Game 6: Penguins Travel To Montreal Hoping To End Canadiens’ Season
The fourth-seeded Penguins grabbed a 3-2 lead in this best-of-seven series with Saturday's 2-1 victory on home ice and can earn a third straight trip to the conference finals with another win tonight. The Penguins and Habs have alternated wins so far in this series, with Pittsburgh taking the odd-numbered games and Montreal notching wins in Games 2 and 4.
The Canadiens are just 2-3 as the host in this postseason and had a mediocre 20-16-5 record on home ice during the regular season.
Pittsburgh, meanwhile, is 4-1 on the road in these playoffs, but lost its first game as the guest in Montreal on Thursday. Before the Game 4 setback, the Pens had won five straight postseason tests as the visitor since dropping Game 5 of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit. Pittsburgh has clinched each of its last five playoff series on the road.
The Penguins, had a solid 22-16-3 record as the guest during the 2009-10 campaign. If the Pens are unable to end the series tonight, the clubs will meet Wednesday night back in Pittsburgh for a decisive Game 7 at Mellon Arena.
Marc-Andre Fleury was the star for Pittsburgh in Saturday's close victory over the Habs. The goaltender stopped 32-of-33 shots and came just 31 seconds away from a shutout. Montreal made it a one-goal game on Michael Cammalleri's power-play tally at 19:29 of the third period.
However, with Jaroslav Halak on the bench in favor of the extra attacker, the Canadiens were unable to net the equalizer. Fleury came up with a pad save in the closing seconds on a left point shot by Cammalleri to help Pittsburgh hold on for the win.
Sergei Gonchar had a goal and an assist while Kris Letang provided the other score for the Penguins.
Pens forward Bill Guerin returned in Game 5 after missing the previous two games with an undisclosed injury. Guerin, who has three goals and five assists in the playoffs, failed to register a shot on net in just over 15 minutes of ice time on Saturday.
Halak made 23 saves for the Canadiens, who will have to win the next two games if they want to advance to the conference finals for the first time since the 1992-93 season, which was also the last time the team won the Stanley Cup.
“Everything is still possible. We’re not going to go away, you know that,” Cammalleri told Montreal’s official team site. “We just have to go win one game at home and we’re right back where we want to be.”
Montreal overcame a 3-1 series deficit to knock off the top-seeded Washington Capitals in the first round of this postseason.
For Montreal, Jaroslav Spacek sat out yet another game with an undisclosed illness, making it nine straight contests the Habs defenseman has missed with the mysterious sickness. Although he did travel with the Habs to Pittsburgh for Game 5, the team has not revealed any timetable for Spacek's return and he is questionable for tonight's game.
To make matters worse, the Canadiens, who are already missing Spacek, Andrei Markov and Paul Mara on defense, could also be without physical blueliner Hal Gill tonight after he suffered a lower-body injury in Game 5. Gill, who has been given much of the credit for holding Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby to just three assists in this series, is questionable for this evening's contest.
The Habs and Pens have met just once before in the playoffs and that was back in the opening round of the 1998 postseason when Montreal notched a six-game series victory.
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