Habs winning despite power play struggles
There will be some interesting matchups when the Canadiens take on the slumping Pittsburgh Penguins at the Consol Energy Centre Tuesday night (7 p.m., Sportsnet East, RDS, TSN690 Radio).
Penguins centre Sidney Crosby hasn’t had a shot on goal in Pittsburgh’s first two losses, but Tomas Plekanec doesn’t expect the drought to last.
“He’s the best player in the world and you know that it’s just a matter of time before he starts putting up points,” said Plekanec.
The challenge for the Penguins is to beat Montreal’s Carey Price who, according to Phil Kessel, is the best goaltender in the world.
“We have to get shots to the net and we have to get some traffic in front,” said Kessel.
Price has a 2-0 record this season, but he has had troubles against Pittsburgh. He was 1-1-1 against the Penguins last season with a 2.24 goals-against average. And his career against Crosby & Co. leaves something to be desired. He’s 10- 10-3 in 24 starts with a 2.93 goalsagainst average.
Goals have been scarce for Pittsburgh this season. The Penguins are 0-2 and their only goal was scored by Kessel in a 2-1 loss Saturday in Arizona.
There has been a lot of discussion here about the lack of production from the top line of Crosby, Kessel and Chris Kunitz, but coach Mike Johnston didn’t seem overly concerned by the slow start.
“Those guys were spread out too much and today we worked on getting them a little closer,” Johnston said after the Penguins practised Monday. “They’ve had two games together and they’re still working on their chemistry. Sid hasn’t had the shots, but he’s found the other guys on the line for some scoring chances.”
Crosby denied that he’s passing up opportunities to shoot.
“There was one chance on a 2-on1 in Arizona when I could have shot, but the chances haven’t been there,” said Crosby.
The Canadiens stayed over in Ottawa after beating the Senators 3-1 Sunday night to run their record to 3-0. The team had a late afternoon practice scheduled here, but coach Michel Therrien gave his players a day off.
Price and backup Mike Condon have been solid so far, allowing only four goals in three games. There’s no surprise there because the Canadiens had the best defensive record in the NHL last season.
But the Canadiens are showing an ability to score with 10 goals.
“We know we have a good team and we have guys who can score,” said Tomas Plekanec, who counted two in the first period in Ottawa.
It’s been scoring by committee in the early going. Max Pacioretty scored twice in the season-opening win in Toronto, while Lars Eller had two goals in a 4-2 win over Boston on Saturday night.
The one area of concern for both teams is the power play. The Canadiens have one goal in 14 opportunities while the Penguins are 0-for-7.
Kessel and Plekanec both said it was too early to panic over the lack of success.
“It’s the beginning of the season,” said Plekanec after the Canadiens went 0-for-6 in Boston. “We had some good looks, but we need some practice time to work on it.”
Plekanec echoed Therrien when he said the Canadiens may have been a bit casual with the extra man, but he said there was another concern.
While teams aren’t always going to score on the power play — a 25 per cent success rate is considered excellent — they do hope to create some momentum. Plekanec said that wasn’t the case when the Canadiens were on the power play for nearly eight minutes, including a two-man advantage for 1:09 and failed to get a shot on net.
“We were a little down after that, but we came back strong in the third period,” said Plekanec.
Condon was making his NHL debut in Ottawa and he appeared cool, calm and collected as he made 19 saves for the win.
The Canadiens return to the Bell Centre Thursday for their home opener against the New York Rangers.