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Penguins make lead stand, win 2nd game in row | TribLIVE.com
Penguins/NHL

Penguins make lead stand, win 2nd game in row

Seth Rorabaugh
Seth Rorabaugh
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The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby celebrates after scoring during the first period Saturday. Crosby scored twice in the 3-1 victory over Montreal.
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Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stops a shot during the first period Saturday.
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The Penguins’ Sidney Crosby returns to the bench after scoring during the first period Saturday.
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Montreal Canadiens goaltender Sam Montembeault reaches to make a save against Penguins forward Valtteri Puustinen during the second period Saturday.

With daylight savings time in its final full day of 2024, the Pittsburgh Penguins are determined to not fall back into the sloppy brand of defense that led to the six-game losing streak they endured in late October.

“We’re trying to build on things and trying to clean our game up,” Penguins defenseman Ryan Graves said following a morning skate Saturday in Cranberry. “We’ve given chances, easy offense (to the opposition). We’ve just been trying to clean it up.”

The Penguins looked spick-and-span Saturday evening as they clocked the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, at PPG Paints Arena. Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic stopped 25 of 26 shots as his record sprung to 2-2-1.

Forward Sidney Crosby was responsible for the bulk of the offense with two goals.

This victory extended a modest winning streak to two games and came on the heels of a defensively disciplined 2-1 home overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

“It’s just going over the fundamentals,” Crosby said of the Penguins’ spruced-up defensive efforts as of late. “The same things we went over for a while here, but just reinforcing them and really breaking it down into small things. All those little details add up to winning hockey, and it’s nice to get rewarded for it. The more we do it and we get rewarded, I think that’s good for us, just to see that and feel that.”

Crosby’s offensive game is feeling good at the moment after he scored for the second consecutive game, recording his fourth goal of the season 15 minutes, 57 seconds into regulation.

Former Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson failed to cleanly play a puck dumped in off his own end boards and gave it away to Penguins forward Rickard Rakell on the left half-wall. Accepting that charity, Rakell slid the puck above the right circle where Crosby took possession, sauntered into the circle and lasered a wrister to the far side by the blocker of goaltender Sam Montembeault. Rakell had the only assist.

Before Thursday, Crosby had been limited to a single goal in his first 11 games of the season.

The Canadiens managed to limit Crosby without another goal for the next 22:43 before he struck again at 18:40 of the second period during a power-play sequence.

After Crosby beat Canadiens forward Nick Suzuki on a faceoff in Montreal’s left circle, Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson shuffled the puck off the near wall to the left point. From there, defenseman Kris Letang took possession, spun away from Suzuki — who had lost his stick — and hustled to the near circle where he slid a backhand pass to the high slot. Accepting the pass, Crosby fired a wrister by Montembeault’s left skate. Rakell provided a screen on the sequence. Letang and Karlsson claimed assists.

Forward Christian Dvorak’s first goal of the season got the visitors on the scoreboard at 5:32 of the third period.

On the Penguins’ right half-wall, Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky hounded Rakell into a turnover, causing the puck to slide toward the near corner. From there, Canadiens rookie forward Emil Heineman fed a pass to the top of the right circle for Dvorak, who pumped a wrister on net. Nedeljkovic made the initial save with his glove but failed to secure the rebound. On the ensuing scramble, Dvorak ripped a wrister by Nedeljkovic’s glove. Assists went to Heineman and Slafkovsky.

That was the only blemish on the evening for Nedeljkovic who has been the beneficiary of the team’s otherwise stiffer defense. In the past two games, he has a 0.98 goals-against average and .959 save percentage.

Those figures contrast considerably from his first three games this season, all losses (0-2-1). Over that span, he posted a 3.95 GAA and .874 save percentage.

“I think we’re just paying attention to the details a little more,” Nedeljkovic said. “We’re not making that big mistake. Mistakes are going to happen throughout the course of the game, but it’s not that huge, egregious bad pass up the middle or shooting right into somebody’s shin guards or something like that. We’re playing a little smarter in our own end and through the neutral zone and we’re having a lot more sustained time in the offensive zone because of it, because we’re not spending as much time in our own end. I just think we kind of tightened up a little bit in our own end.”

Penguins forward Blake Lizotte capped the scoring with his first goal on an empty net at 19:15 of the final frame. The only assist went to former Canadiens forward Lars Eller.

Sidelined for the first 11 games of the regular season due to a concussion he suffered during preseason play, Lizotte debuted in Thursday’s game but was limited to only 5:38 of ice time on eight shifts in that contest.

On Saturday, he logged 9:10 on 13 shifts and was entrusted with a demanding defensive situation protecting a one-goal lead late in regulation.

“We were thrilled for him that he hit the empty net,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought he felt much more comfortable in this game tonight than he did the last game he played in. He’s only going to get better there. The reason I put him on the ice is because I know he’s got a solid defensive conscience, he’s got good awareness, he can take faceoffs. He can also play the wing. He’s quick. He’s willing to block shots. I thought he was playing well, so to me, those were the contributing factors when I chose to put him on the ice.

“And certainly, he did a really good job for us.”

Seemingly, everyone wearing a Penguins jersey is doing a satisfactory job of defending at the moment.

“It’s something that you’ve got to continue to work at,” Crosby said. “It’s not easy to play that way. It takes a lot of discipline and effort. To bring that every night is important. To do it and see it and get results is huge.”

Notes:

• The Penguins have won five consecutive games against the Canadiens. It is their longest active winning streak against any one opponent.

This also matches their record for longest winning streak against the Canadiens all-time. The franchise already had a pair of five-game winning streak against the Canadiens earlier this century (Dec. 31, 2016 to March 31, 2018 and Feb. 19, 2009 to Dec. 10, 2009).

The Penguins still have quite a bit of catching up to do in terms of head-to-head success against the Canadiens. All-time, they have a 77-116-23-11 mark against that franchise.

• Slafkovsky left the game at 16:56 of the third period after absorbing a high hit from Penguins forward Noel Acciari.

Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis did not provide an update on Slafkovsky’s status following the game.

• As time expired, Xhekaj hit Acciari low and a handful of other Canadiens players tried to jump Acciari. That led to Graves recording a fighting major at the end of the game (20:00 of the third period to be precise) against Canadiens defenseman Jayden Struble.

• Just prior to Crosby’s second goal, Canadiens defenseman Arber Xhekaj speared Penguins forward Michael Bunting below the belt. There was no penalty.

• Lizotte became the 572nd player to score a regular season goal for the franchise.

• Rakell (119 points) surpassed Orest Kindrachuk (118) for 77th place on the franchise’s career scoring list.

• In 51 career games against the Canadiens, Crosby has 66 points (25 goals, 41 assists).

• Letang appeared in his 1,100th career game.

• Penguins forward Jesse Puljujarvi and defenseman Ryan Shea were healthy scratches.

• The Canadiens have lost three consecutive games (0-3-0).

Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.

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