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7:00 P.M.: Montreal Looks To Use Home Ice Advantage To Even Series At Two
(Sports Network) - The defending Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins will try to take a 3-1 series edge tonight, when they visit the eighth-seeded Montreal Canadiens at the Bell Centre for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.
The surprising Canadiens earned a split in Games 1 and 2 in Pittsburgh after posting a 3-1 victory in the second meeting at Mellon Arena, but the Penguins bounced back with a 2-0 win in Tuesday’s Game 3 matchup in Montreal. Marc- Andre Fleury needed to stop just 18 shots to notch his first shutout in this postseason and give Pittsburgh a two games to one lead in the best-of-seven series.
Evgeni Malkin and Pascal Dupuis both tallied in the third period for the Penguins to make Fleury's effort stand up.
Fleury, who now has four career playoff whitewashes, blanked an opponent for the first time since a 6-0 decision over the Flyers in Game 5 of the 2008 Eastern Conference finals.
“It was a good feeling winning in Montreal,” said Fleury, who grew up roughly 50 miles north of the hockey mecca. “They came out strong in the beginning of the game, took some great shots, but overall I had a good feeling with this one. In the third period it got tough, not only on the ice, but with the crowd. We had a one-goal lead and [Jaroslav] Halak was tough but we got through it. I had to make some key saves to keep us in the game.”
Halak played well in defeat, turning aside 23-of-24 shots for the Canadiens, who hadn’t been held scoreless beyond the regular season since Game 1 of the 2004 Eastern Conference semifinals against Tampa Bay.
“I’m not surprised how we started in the first period. We certainly had our chances, but they play a patient game, waiting for the right chance to capitalize,” noted Canadiens head coach Jacques Martin. “There were a couple shifts in the third period where we struggled and it showed. They get that power play and capitalized.”
A win tonight for the Penguins would give the two-time defending Eastern Conference champs a chance to close out the series Saturday, when they host Game 5 at the Igloo.
Pittsburgh is 4-0 on the road in these playoffs and has won five straight postseason tests as the visitor since dropping Game 5 of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals in Detroit. Of course, the Penguins, who had a solid 22-16-3 record as the guest during the 2009-10 campaign, won Game 7 on the road to claim Lord Stanley’s Cup last spring.
The Canadiens are just 1-3 as the host in this postseason and had a mediocre 20-16-5 record on home ice during the regular season. Montreal won three out of four games on the road in its shocking seven-game upset of top-seeded Washington in the opening round.
The Pens won Game 3 despite the absence of forward Bill Guerin, who sat out for the contest with an undisclosed injury and is questionable for tonight's tilt. The 39-year-old Guerin has three goals and five assists in eight playoff games this year.
In addition to Guerin, both teams are dealing with key injuries in this series. Penguins centerman Jordan Staal, a Selke Trophy finalist this year, is sidelined indefinitely after having surgery to repair a lacerated tendon in his right foot following Friday's series opener. Staal did practice for the first time on Wednesday and remains day-to-day, though it is still unknown when he will return.
Montreal's top defenseman Andrei Markov is also out indefinitely with a lower- body injury sustained in Game 1. Markov's injury is in addition to the absence of steady veteran Jaroslav Spacek, who has been battling an undisclosed illness and hasn't played since Game 3 against Washington. Spacek did skate on Wednesday and is questionable for tonight's tilt.
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.
The Penguins won three of four against the Canadiens during the regular-season series. Pittsburgh took the first three encounters by a combined 12-4 margin before Montreal avoided the season sweep with a 5-3 home victory on Feb. 6.
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