Pittsburgh @ Montreal preview

Last Meeting ( Oct 13, 2018 ) Pittsburgh 3, Montreal 4

The Eastern Conference wild-card race is tightening up, and two of the contestants clash on Saturday as the Montreal Canadiens host the Pittsburgh Penguins. Montreal is two points ahead of Columbus for the top spot after posting a 4-2 road victory over the New York Rangers and hopes to record a third straight victory before embarking on a three-game trip to California.

Pittsburgh has lost three of its last four games (1-1-2) after dropping a 4-3 overtime decision in Buffalo on Friday and trails Carolina by one point for third place in the Metropolitan Division. In addition, it is on the outside of the wild-card picture as it sits two points behind Montreal for the first position and also trails the Blue Jackets, who are tied in points with the Penguins but have one game in hand. Pittsburgh on Saturday once again will be without defensemen and top penalty-killers Brian Dumoulin (concussion) and Kris Letang (upper body), who were injured in a 4-3 overtime loss at Philadelphia on Feb. 23. “We’re trying to keep it simple on the penalty kill, regardless of who’s in our lineup,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan told reporters before his club killed 1-of-2 penalties on Friday. “The guys who are out are important guys for us. We also have capable guys in our lineup.''

TV: 7 p.m. ET, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, Sportsnet360, Sportsnet East, Sportsnet Ontario, Sportsnet Pacific, TVA (Montreal)

ABOUT THE PENGUINS (33-22-9): Captain Sidney Crosby (team-high 79 points), who also notched an assist, scored his 439th career goal on Friday to pull even with Jaromir Jagr for second place on the franchise list behind Mario Lemieux (690). Patric Hornqvist (16 goals) tallied for the first time in 18 games in the overtime loss and has notched three of his 29 points in the last three contests. Defenseman Erik Gudbranson played his first game with the team since being acquired from Vancouver at the trade deadline and posted a minus-1 rating with three shots and two hits in 20 minutes, 19 seconds of ice time.

ABOUT THE CANADIENS (35-23-7): Joel Armia on Friday recorded his first career hat trick, and his 10 goals this season are two shy of the career high he set with Winnipeg last season. Paul Byron (12 goals, 25 points) missed Thursday's practice with the flu but recovered to extend his point streak to seven games (two goals, five assists) by notching an assist against New York. Brendan Gallagher scored his team-high 28th goal on Friday, giving him a tally in back-to-back games, five in as many contests and nine in his last 12.

OVERTIME

1. Montreal has gone 12-for-12 on the penalty kill over its last three games but is 0-for-6 on the power play during that span.

2. Pittsburgh, which has lost six straight Saturday games (0-5-1), has successfully killed only 7-of-13 penalties in its last four contests.

3. The Canadiens won the first two contests of the three-game season series - both in October - with Tomas Tatar scoring twice in a 4-3 shootout victory and Byron doing the same in a 5-1 win, while Gallagher tallied in each triumph.

PREDICTION: Canadiens 3, Penguins 2