Pittsburgh @ Montreal preview
Bell Centre
Last Meeting ( Feb 22, 2024 ) Montreal 1, Pittsburgh 4
With one win through three games, the Pittsburgh Penguins aren't off to a strong start. They'll look to turn things around quickly when they close out a three-game road trip with a visit to the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
The Penguins are coming off a 4-2 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday. Kris Letang opened the scoring before Toronto responded with three unanswered goals. Rickard Rakell pulled Pittsburgh within one before an empty-net goal sealed the loss.
Average to underwhelming results in October are nothing new for Pittsburgh. Last season, they went 3-6-0 through the first month of the campaign. In 2022-23 and 2021-22, they trudged through a .500 record, going 4-4-1 and 3-3-2, respectively.
"We didn't like our first game. I thought the last two we gave ourselves a chance to win," captain Sidney Crosby said. "... We're just trying to get this one. Two out of three on the road would be pretty good. Obviously starts are important. If you look at our last couple of seasons, we missed the playoffs by a point or two. A good start goes a long way, so we'll try to make sure that we're getting better here."
Crosby is second on the team with three points, all assists, one behind Evgeni Malkin, whose four points are also all assists.
Malkin earned two of those helpers against Toronto, to hit 1,300 career points in his NHL career. He reached 800 career assists Thursday against Detroit and sits two goals shy of 500. Only Crosby (1,599) and Alex Ovechkin (1,551) have more points among active players.
"I think it speaks for itself," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "(Malkin is) one of the greatest players of all time. He's clearly one of the best players of this generation. We're fortunate that we have two of them on our team. It's quite a privilege to watch these two guys perform. ... I know the Pittsburgh fan base feels the same way."
The Canadiens, meanwhile, are feeling good with two wins in their first three games, most recently a 4-1 victory against the Ottawa Senators on Saturday.
They've been fueled by Samuel Montembeault, who's been between the pipes for their two victories, and the offensive talents of forward Cole Caufield and rookie defenseman Lane Hutson.
"It feels pretty good right now, but it's only three games," Caufield said. "We've played some pretty tough teams, but it's still early and we still have a long way to go. But it feels pretty good to get off to a good start."
Caufield, who has scored at least 20 goals over the last three seasons while steadily increasing his totals, has four through the first three games to lead the team.
Hutson is tied with Caufield for the team lead in points (four), picking up four assists -- two in each of the past two games. Hutson also had two assists in his first two NHL games at the end of last season.
"His ability to detect space on the play is really impressive," defenseman Mike Matheson said of Hutson. "It seems like he's always able to take the puck and spot a player who's open. It's really impressive to do that after five games."
--Field Level Media