Penguins win with fast start
Crosby scores 21 seconds into game
MONTREAL — The pedigreed Penguins for much of this frustrating season have displayed the urgency of a retiree reading the newspaper at a coffee shop.
Saturday, it felt like they checked their watch and finally saw it was time to get moving.
Perhaps it was because Sidney Crosby burst in and pointed to the clock, kicking the cappuccino machine on his way out of the door for good measure.
Sparked by Crosby and their new-look top line, the Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the first TV timeout and — believe it or not — never let the Montreal Canadiens make it a game. The decisive 5-1 win was the 32nd career game with at least four points for Crosby, who had a goal and three assists.
“You really know when he’s taking this team over and doing it every night,” Jake Guentzel said. “We’re lucky to have a guy like that,
that brings it every night like that and is really carrying us.”
It was the fourth straight multi-point game for the captain, who has seven goals and 18 assists since the start of February. That moved him into the NHL’s top five in scoring. More importantly, it pulled the Penguins, who had trailed the Canadiens by two points in the standings, back into playoff position.
“I thought Sid had a monster night. His line was really good,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said, adding, “He understands the position we’re in. He’s doing everything he can to help this team win.”
After Friday’s 4-3 overtime loss in Buffalo, Sullivan spoke about the desperation of where they stand with a month left in the season, saying, “We’re going to try to win that game right in front of us.” He showed he meant it with two personnel decisions prior to Saturday’s game at Bell Centre.
For starters, he turned to No. 1 goalie Matt Murray on consecutive nights for the first time this season. He also shook up his forward lines, putting a pair of their hottest hands on Crosby’s wing.
A speedy forward with a scary shot, Jared McCann earned the opportunity with five goals in his first 14 games since he was acquired Feb. 1. It took only 21 seconds for the promotion to pay off.
As the Canadiens tried to exit their zone, Crosby harassed defenseman Jordie Benn along the wall, forcing him to give up the puck to McCann. He quickly got it to Crosby, who executed a give-and-go with Guentzel. Crosby steered his pass between the pads of Carey Price. Boom. 1-0.
“After [Friday], we were a little disappointed how it ended and had a sour taste in our mouth coming in here,” Guentzel said. “We needed a good start in their building to get the crowd out of it.”
That was Crosby’s 440th NHL goal, passing Jaromir Jagr for the second-most in team history.
After Crosby set up a power-play goal by Evgeni Malkin, the top line struck again 8:51 into the game. Crosby won a faceoff straight back to Guentzel, who fired another five-hole goal to make it 3-0.
“It’s a set play. We’ve kind of been doing it lately,” he said of his 30th goal on the season. “Obviously, a great draw by Sid and I’m just trying to get the puck on net and it found the back of it.”
The Penguins pushed their lead to four with another from Guentzel. At the 6:24 mark of the second period, Crosby slipped a pass through to Guentzel, who whacked a shot into the upper left corner.
Guentzel, eyeing his third hat trick of the season, broke in alone on Price while killing a second-period Canadiens power play. But Price slid across the crease to glove down Guentzel’s shot.
On the other end, Murray was sharp a night after allowing a stoppable goal in overtime.
Sure, the Penguins might have already had a 3-0 lead by the time he reached for his water bottle. But in recent games, no lead has been safe. A week earlier, they blew a late 3-1 lead in Philadelphia. They got a scare in Columbus. The coughed up a late goal in Buffalo, too. Murray was in net each time.
Sullivan indicated that the Penguins had planned on starting Casey DeSmith in Montreal. But after the loss a night earlier, the coaches decided to go with Murray based on “our own feel and where our team is at, where Matt is at.” Sullivan said it was “an important decision for us.” The right one, too.
“I could tell right from the first shot that hit him. He looked big in net. He knew this was an important one for us. He’s playing back-to-back. It was a good challenge for him and I thought he stood tall in there,” Sullivan said. “He made a number of timely saves for us when we needed it.”
His most important stop came late in the first period, when he punched out Max Domi’s breakaway try. Murray shut down Paul Byron when he broke in alone on Murray midway through the final period. The lone goal he allowed was to Brendan Gallagher in the second. Murray made 36 saves.
The win, punctuated by a late empty-netter, gave the Penguins five out of a possible six points in three straight road games against playoff hopefuls Columbus, Buffalo and Montreal.