Penguins lose Game 3 to Montreal, on brink of elimination

In the decade and a half he has played in the NHL, Penguins captain Sidney Crosby has faced elimination from the postseason many times.

He’s won and lost in plenty of those situations. They’ve come in all kinds of scenarios. In the first round or the Stanley Cup Final. Home or road. And in any of the final four games of a best-of-seven series.

So even in a neutral site tournament that was delayed several months due to a pandemic and in a best-of-five qualifying round series against an opponent primarily included in the postseason for television purposes, the prospect of elimination retains a pretty universal sentiment.

“It’s pretty clear cut when you’re in that situation. You’ve got to go out there and find a way to win a hockey game,” Crosby said following his team’s 4-3 come-from-ahead loss to the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday in Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena. “That’s the way it feels right now.”

It’s hard to fathom the Penguins feeling good about how they got into this predicament.

After largely controlling play and offensive chances through the first two games of the series, the Penguins were careless with their puck possession and allowed the limited but spry Canadiens to create plenty of offense in Game 3.

The first goal of the game set the muddled tone this contest would exhibit. After an offensive zone turnover by Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson, Canadiens defenseman Shea Weber was able to clean up on a goalmouth scramble for his first goal of the postseason 4:57 into regulation.

It didn’t take long for the Penguins to respond when their inconsistent power play gained some traction.

A one-timer from the right circle by Patric Hornqvist at 8:40 of the first period, his first of the postseason, tied the game. Prior to the score, Weber was called for cross-checking Hornqvist and that allowed the Penguins to remain on the power play. Only 59 seconds later, forward Jason Zucker scored on a wrister from the left circle, putting the Penguins up 2-1.

At 5:34, forward Teddy Blueger scored his first career postseason goal on another goalmouth scramble to give the Penguins a seemingly insurmountable two-goal lead against an opponent with limited offensive options.

As it turned out, the Canadiens easily surmounted that deficit.

A redirection by Canadiens forward Jonathan Drouin, who had position on Penguins defenseman Justin Schultz to the right of the crease, at 10:13 of the second made it a 3-2 contest. Then Canadiens forward Paul Byron, who surged through a check attempt by Schultz upon entry into the offensive zone, was able to clean up a rebound with a wraparound forehand shot by the left skate of goaltender Matt Murray, who finished with 27 saves. It was Byron’s first of the playoffs.

The winning score was a fairly bizarre affair. Taking a pass low in the Penguins’ right circle, Canadiens defenseman Jeff Petry, who scored in overtime of a 3-2 victory in Game 1 on Saturday, lifted a wrister from a bad angle that struck the right side of Murray’s mask then clinked off the crossbar and bounded into the cage for his second goal these playoffs.

Despite a power-play chance late in regulation, the Penguins could not solve goaltender Carey Price, who finished with 30 saves.

“I think we just kind of took our foot off the gas a little bit,” Blueger said of his team’s play following his goal. “Momentum shifted and they were able to get those two goals (in the second period). It was a pretty even third period, but we gave up that one goal after the power play. After that, we couldn’t find a way back into it.”

The Penguins made one lineup change, scratching ineffective forward Jared McCann and replaced him with rookie forward Sam Lafferty, who primarily centered a line with Hornqvist and Patrick Marleau. The Hollidaysburg native logged a team-low 7:40 of ice time on 13 shifts in his postseason debut.

There’s little to suggest the Penguins will make any further changes in advance of Friday’s Game 4. But there’s certainly ample reason to do so.

That said, their personnel might be irrelevant unless they offer a much more thorough effort than than what they displayed in Game 3.

“I would expect us to have a lot of urgency,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “When your backs are against the wall, you’ve got to win. It’s win or go home. Our guys understand what’s at stake. We’ve been here before. We’ve just got to make sure we bring our best game.”

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