Thanks to a relentless offensive attack and a solid performance in net from Matt Murray, the Pittsburgh Penguins held off the Montreal Canadiens in a 3-1 victory on Monday, evening the best-of-five series at 1-1.
Pittsburgh (1-1) got the scoring started early in the first, when Jake Guentzel found Sidney Crosby wide open on the left faceoff circle. Crosby took the pass and put it right through Carey Price's five-hole, giving Crosby his second goal in as many games, while giving the Penguins an early 1-0 lead.
The score remained 1-0 until late in the third, when Conor Sheary dished the puck to Jason Zucker, who redirected it right into a wide-open net to give the Penguins a more comfortable 2-0 lead with just 5:19 remaining.
Montreal (1-1) didn't falter, though, as Jesperi Kotkaniemi put one past the blocker of Matt Murray on a low-angle shot with 2:10 to go, giving Kotkaniemi his second of the series and trimming Pittsburgh's edge to 2-1.
In the final two minute stretch, Murray, who made 26 saves on the night, stood his ground and maintained Pittsburgh's lead. Finally, with just under 10 seconds on the clock, Guentzel back-handed the puck into the empty net to make the score 3-1 and effectively seal the win for the Penguins.
Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary each recorded two points in the victory.
Pittsburgh's powerplay was still very sloppy, going 0-for-5 on the evening. Fortunately, they killed all three of Montreal's powerplay opportunities.
The Penguins and Canadiens will meet again for a pivotal Game 3 on Wednesday evening at Scotiabank Arena.
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