Habs upset Penguins to advance
Price shutout helps 12th-seeded Montreal ‘prove everyone wrong’
Barely making the cut for the NHL’s 24-team return to play, few hockey observers gave the Montreal Canadiens much of a chance in the qualification round against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Habs used it as motivation and it paid off with a stunning upset that secured their place in the first round of the playoffs.
Artturi Lehkonen scored with 4:11 left in the third period and Shea Weber iced it with an empty-netter as Montreal blanked Pittsburgh 2-0 on Friday night at Scotiabank Arena.
Carey Price made 22 saves for the shutout as the 12th-seeded Canadiens took the best-of-five qualifier series in four games.
“I think we all took it with a grain of salt and went out there and just tried to prove everybody wrong,” Price said.
After 55 minutes without a goal, Montreal took advantage of a costly turnover by Brandon Tanev in the Pittsburgh zone. Ben Chiarot pinched on the play and Tanev swung the puck into the slot.
Lehkonen corralled it and fed it to Paul Byron, who drew three Penguins to him as he skated behind the net. Byron backhanded a pass in front to Lehkonen for the one-timer past netminder Tristan Jarry.
“I just had to tap it in towards the net and luckily it found the net,” Lehkonen said.
Weber’s insurance goal came with 31.8 seconds left. Montreal will play the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Philadelphia Flyers in the first round.
The 12th-seeded Canadiens last reached the first round of the NHL playoffs in 2017, a sixgame loss to the New York Rangers.
“Everybody was kind of counting us (out) so of course it feels good to win this series,” Lehkonen said. “But it was one series. Now we’ve got to enjoy this for a moment and then move on.”
Jarry made 20 saves in his first career post-season start. Penguins coach Mike Sullivan turned to the all-star netminder as a replacement for Matt Murray, who has lost eight of his last nine post-season starts.
The Penguins were seeded fifth but turned in a surprisingly flat performance in an elimination game. Big guns like Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby, who turned 33 on Friday, were simply shut down.
“Listen it’s a three out of five and anything can happen,” Crosby said. “We did some good things but we didn’t do enough. Give them credit. They played really well.”