Empty Thoughts: Canadiens 4, Penguins 1

Observations from the Penguins’ 4-1 loss to the Canadiens:

Canadiens coach Claude Julien has faced the Penguins enough times to know what they’re all about.

Speed, skating, scoring.

And special teams, specifically the power play.

“Tonight, we’ve got another challenge against a team that’s usually pretty dangerous on the power play,” Julien said, perhaps diplomatically, following his team’s morning skate at PPG Paints Arena.

That prudence against the Penguins’ power-play proved to be unfounded as the home squad failed to convert on its lone chance.

That futility on the power play extended skid over the past six games to 1 for 16 (6.2 percent) for the Penguins. For the season, they are 14 for 88 (15.9 percent).

Granted, each team was gifted only one power-play chance a piece in this game. So it’s hard to say special teams play dominated the contest. But the timing of each power-play opportunity, mainly the Penguins’, proved to be vital.

After a delay of game minor for a faceoff violation at 10:21 of the first period, the Penguins had an opportunity to take a 2-0 lead but failed to even put a shot on net during the ensuing two minutes.

“We had one (power-play chance) tonight,” said defenseman Justin Schultz. “We just didn’t control it tonight. Just couldn’t get it set up and never really had a chance.

“We’ve got to try to create momentum for our team, even if we don’t score. That’s what you’ve got to do on power plays. If anything, they got momentum off of that.”

In turn, the Canadiens converted their only chance and opened their scoring at 12:24 of the second period and rampaged their way to three goals in that period.

What happened

The Penguins took the game’s first lead only 2:59 into regulation. After Canadiens defenseman Ben Chiarot fumbled a puck at the Penguins’ blue line, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin claimed it and a pass to the neutral zone for forward Bryan Rust, creating a two-on-none with forward Jake Guentzel. As Chiarot offered a futile pursuit, Rust fed a pass from the right wing to Guentzel, trailing a bit on the left wing. As goaltender Carey Price slide to his right, Guentzel lifted a wrister into the cage for his 17th score of the season. Rust and Malkin had assists.

(Video courtesy of NHL)

The Canadiens got a power-play score to tie the game, 1-1, at 12:24 of the second period. Trying to skate the puck out of his own zone, Penguins forward Brandon Tanev had it stolen on a strip by Canadiens forward Philip Danault in the high slot. Fending off Penguins forward Zach Aston-Reese, Danault fed a pass low in the slot to forward Brendan Gallagher. As Penguins defensemen John Marino and Chad Ruhwedel clambered to get back into position, Gallagher distributed a pass to forward Tomas Tatar in the left circle. Despite appearing to fan on the shot a bit, Tatar was able to put a wrister past Jarry’s blocker on the near side for his 10th score of the season. Assists went to Gallagher and Danault.

(Video courtesy of NHL)

Montreal took its first lead of the contest at 16:17 of the second. After Penguins defenseman Kris Letang fumbled a puck in the neutral zone, Canadiens forward Joel Armia hounded him into a turnover and pushed it into the offensive zone. Approaching the net on the right wing while fending off Letang, Armia lifted a wrister past Jarry’s glove on the near side for his 11th goal of the season. Defenseman Jeff Petry had the only assist.

(Video courtesy of NHL)

The Canadiens claimed a two-goal late in the second at the 19:45 mark. Off a pass in the neutral zone from forward Artturi Lehkonen, Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber, an offensive force more renown for a thunderclap of a slapper from the point than daring rushes deep into the offensive zone, zipped up the left wing behind the cage, caught Marino and Jarry off guard and tucked a surprising backhander wraparound into the cage for his 10th goal. Lehkonen and Armia collected assists.

(Video courtesy of NHL)

An empty net goal by Gallager at 18:21 of the third period secured victory. Assists went to Tatar and Weber.

(Video courtesy of NHL)

Statistically speaking

• The Penguins controlled shots, 34-26.

• Marino and Rust each led the game with five shots.

• Tanev was the only Penguins skater who failed to record a shot on net.

• Gallagher led the Canadiens with four shots.

• Chiarot led the game with 25:42 of ice time on 26 shifts.

• Marino led the Penguins with 24:08 of ice time on 30 shifts.

• The Penguins controlled faceoffs, 31-24 (56 percent).

• Malkin was 11 for 17 (65 percent).

• Canadiens forward Max Domi was 9 for 18 (50 percent).

• Letang led the game with three blocked shots.

• Chiarot Armia and defenseman Brett Kulak each led the Canadiens with two blocked shots.

Historically speaking

• Tatar’s goal snapped a shutout sequence for Jarry of 177:55, a new franchise record. Tomas Vokoun previously held the mark with a sequence of 173:06 in the 2012-13 campaign.

• Vokoun actually fared worse than Jarry in the game his sequence came to a halt. Vokoun allowed four goals on 13 shots in a 4-1 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres and was pulled mid-game in favor of Marc-Andre Fleury.

• Malkin (1,029 points) surpassed former Rangers/Maple Leafs/Bruins defenseman Brian Leetch (1,028) to move into 78th place on the NHL’s all-time career scoring list.

Randomly speaking

• Letang and Marino had a rough game as they were each victimized for the Canadiens’ middle two goals. Given the Penguins’ limitations with Brian Dumoulin’s long-term injury, it’s a worthwhile experiment to team Letang and Marino, each right-handed shots, together, with Letang on the left side. It’s been a stable duo for the most part during its brief run. But the results clearly weren’t there on Tuesday.

• It’s curious that Marcus Pettersson, a left shot, isn’t a more immediate candidate to play with Letang.

• Canadiens forward Riley Barber made his season debut after being recalled from Laval of the American Hockey League on Monday. The Washington, Pa. native logged 12 minutes of ice time on 16 shifts and had two shots on goal.

• The Canadiens don’t have much talent up front. That’s to say there aren’t many top-six forwards on this roster. But there are tons of solid bottom-sixers. They come off as a team with lots of forwards who will score 16 goals on the season and skate the opposition to frustration.

• Canadiens forward Matthew Peca left the game at 6:59 of the third. He was battling with Malkin in the neutral zone then took a tumble. Malkin tried to hop over him but ended up pushing Peca’s right leg into the ice awkwardly. Peca had considerable trouble getting to his skates and to the bench before retreating to the dressing room.

Here's what happened to Matthew Peca. #Habs pic.twitter.com/E4dkTx4FFN

— Here's Your Replay ⬇️ (@HeresYourReplay) December 11, 2019

Publicly speaking

• Mike Sullivan dismissed the notion that the lone power-play the Penguins were unsuccessful on was vital to the game’s outcome:

“If you’re asking me if that was the difference in the game, I don’t think that had anything to do with it. I thought we had some good zone entries on it. We would have like to get a little more zone time and execution in zone. But it’s tough to really evaluate the power play when there was only one (opportunity).”

• Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson summed up the game pretty well:

“The first period was definitely our best period. The third period was more of a byproduct of them trying to hold a lead and us pushing. The second period, we just weren’t very good.”

• Guentzel critiqued his team’s play overall:

“Tonight was one of those nights where we weren’t playing simple, we weren’t getting on their (defense). And they took advantage of us tonight.”

• Sullivan was asked if the Canadiens’ skating overwhelmed the Penguins:

“We’re a quick team too. They’re certainly fast. They’re on you quickly. They challenge you on the breakouts with the forecheck. Their (defensemen) are pretty active on the walls. But we tend to face that every night. A lot of teams play that way. They outplayed us in the second period. That was the difference in the game. We had some good looks in the third period. We didn’t finish. We didn’t have enough guys going tonight to get the job done.”

• Sullivan addressed the poor second period:

“Our commitment to compete and our urgency to be hard on pucks … A lot of the game is played in the battle areas, in the trenches, you’ve got to get your nose over pucks, you’ve got to be willing to fight and protect pucks. I didn’t think we won enough of those, especially in the second period.”

• Guentzel on the second period:

“That’s rare for us. We’re playing well. For us to do this tonight, you just want to forget and move on tomorrow.”

• Tatar on the Canadiens’ play in the second period:

“As the period went on, we were putting pucks deep. We were good on the forecheck. We were clogging the neutral zone. We were getting out from the (defensive) zone pretty easy. You can save a lot of energy that way.”

• Jarry on setting a franchise record:

“It’s pretty cool. It’s never something you really think of. It would have been nice to have the win to go along with it. But try again.”

• Jarry sort of suggested Tatar’s goal was fluky and that he was interfered with on Weber’s goal:

“It was a little bit of luck. The one shot rolls on the guy. He didn’t plan on going there or anything. Another thing where I thought I might have got interfered on the wraparound with the guy coming an taking my pads out. It’s something that could go either way if both those goals don’t happen.”

(From our vantage point, it looked like Letang made the most contact with Jarry on that sequence.)

• Sullivan was asked what has allowed Jarry to surge this season:

“It’s his compete level, it’s his focus. He was tracking the puck. He made some big saves for us in the second period. We got outplayed in the second period. Give Montreal credit, they played well. But I don’t think we helped ourselves either. We made some poor decisions. We weren’t strong enough on pucks. As a result, we didn’t control the period like we’re capable of.”

• Weber quipped when asked about the last time he scored a wraparound goal:

“Since I played NHL ’ 95 probably.”

(The Rangers’ defense in 1995 was brutal.)

Visually speaking

-Game summary.

-Event summary.

-Highlights:

Follow the Penguins all season long.