Goalkeeper Jake Allen was spectacular throughout his night in front of the Montreal Canadiens, giving him a 6-3 victory over the Penguins on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
As expected, Allen got the start – his second since recovering from a concussion suffered on November 13 against the Detroit Red Wings. He put on a brilliant performance and ended the evening with 47 saves.
Jonathan Drouin, Christian Dvorak, Artturi Lehkonen, Josh Anderson, twice, and Tyler Toffoli rocked the strings for the Canadian (6-15-2), who ended his two-game losing streak. In addition, CH are now 2-9-1 away from home this season.
Evan Rodrigues and Jeff Carter fought back for the Penguins (10-7-4), who saw their five-game winning streak come to an end. Sidney Crosby, who missed the first 12 games of the season with a wrist injury and a positive COVID-19 diagnosis, topped the score for the locals with 1:10 to go.
Casey DeSmith got a rare start in goal for the Penguins and pushed 27 shots back at him. He was looking for his first win this season, making his fourth start in 2021-22.
The game started slowly – that was to be expected since both teams had played the day before. The Habs have also retired to the locker room tied 0-0, which is in itself a small victory.
The stalemate persisted for much of the second period, with Allen and DeSmith stubbornly in front of their respective net.
Drouin finally opened the scoring on a breakaway, with 4:26 left in the second period. It was his third goal of the campaign.
However, the Penguins should not be counted for being beaten, especially against a team that is sorely lacking in confidence lately.
And what had to happen happened
While defender David Savard was in the dungeon, Rodrigues brought both teams back to square one at 2:33 by beating Allen with a skylight shot.
However, CH returned to the lead 32 seconds later, after Dvorak accepted a light pass from Sami Niku from the rink corner before pushing the disc behind DeSmith. It was his fourth goal of the campaign.
Lehkonen widened the lead to 3-1 with 13:44 to go on the clock, hitting a puck on the fly behind DeSmith.
The Bleu-blanc-rouge and the Penguins then traded a stunt of goals, courtesy of Carter, Anderson, twice, Crosby and Toffoli in under three minutes.
The Penguins ran out of time, however, and the Canadian posted a refreshing victory.
Defender Chris Wideman was not in uniform, annoyed by an injury. Ducharme instead reinserted Michael Pezzetta, to restore a “classic” formation of 12 attackers and six defenders.
For their part, the Penguins were deprived of Evgeni Malkin, who continues his rehabilitation after going under the knife during the summer season, and Bryan Rust, in particular.
It was the second of three games between the two teams this season, after Ducharme’s men fell 6-0 at the Bell Center on November 18.
The Canadian will return home after the game, in preparation for his Monday night game at the Bell Center against the Vancouver Canucks.