Penguins Carry Over Strong Third to Get Big Win Over Montreal

WHAT HAPPENED

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

When a team goes through a stretch where they're not getting the results, it's human nature to have doubt creep in. But instead of letting it continue to snowball and become a mentally fragile group, the Penguins kept their heads up and made sure they played with the urgency and the swagger that head coach Mike Sullivan told them to bring to Montreal.'
It helped that they had a terrific third period from their last game, where the Penguins outshot the Sabres 20-3 in what would eventually be a 2-1 loss on Tuesday, as a clear visual and reference point to grab onto heading into tonight. The Penguins carried that over into the start of this game, scoring just 3:36 into play and tallying three times total in the opening frame.
"We wanted to play like that right from the start," Crosby said. "I thought we did a good job of moving our feet, putting pressure on them and getting some early goals there to get a lead. That's a big boost, especially with how many chances we had against Buffalo and not being able to convert some of those. To get the same looks and see them go in, I think that you could tell that gave us a good lift."
As expected, Montreal pushed back in the opening minutes of the second, but the Penguins regrouped and reasserted themselves, with the line of Zach Aston-Reese, Teddy Blueger and Brock McGinn getting a pair of goals.
Pittsburgh continued to push in the third, never really taking their foot off the gas - in fact, Blueger got his second of the game with 10.6 seconds left - and coming away with two very well-deserved points when the buzzer sounded.
"Playing on your toes, trying to initiate the play instead of reacting to it - that's the way we need to play," defenseman Kris Letang said. "When we're at our best, that's what we do."
And speaking of points - 11 different players collected them tonight. There were truly no passengers in this one - from top to bottom, everyone came to work and did their jobs tonight.
"it's great to get everybody going," said Letang, who recorded an assist and finished a plus-3 against his hometown team. "Points, goals, sometimes you have them and sometimes you don't. But guys were so close to breaking out and it's fun to get rewarded in that regard. When you see guys on the scoresheet, it's a good confidence booster."
So as Crosby put it, that's four solid periods for the Penguins and counting. They're hoping to add six more with two more games left in this Canadian swing, with stops in Toronto on Saturday and Winnipeg on Sunday, so that they can grab four more much-needed points as a team.
"We've got to keep building here," Crosby said.
OTHER THOUGHTS, MUSINGS AND OBSERVATIONS
OH CAPTAIN
Sullivan made a good point the other night when he said that we all have such high expectations of Crosby because he's a generational talent who tends to have the hockey gods on his side whenever he makes a comeback. But this season has been a unique situation for the captain with coming off a long-term injury and then dealing with a bout with COVID-19.
"I'm still learning," Crosby said. "This is a new scenario for me to go through. I've come back from injury, but never that long and missing camp and then going through stuff with the virus. So it's hard to be patient, but you kind of have to be, and it's a lot easier when you get a win to kind of get through it."

Crosby said he didn't feel great in his return to the lineup on Sunday in Washington after being in the protocol for 10 days, and felt better as the game progressed on Tuesday vs. Buffalo. Crosby thought tonight started off better, which was evidenced by that tremendous second shift from his line that resulted in his first goal of the year.
"To get a big goal from Sid right away there early is huge for us," said assistant coach Todd Reirden. "Just the way the goal happened, too, by playing good defense and winning races up the ice, that was a really good start for us and helped send us on a good direction right from the start."
Sullivan was unable to join the team in Montreal tonight due to the Canadian government's mandatory 14-day quarantine requirement following his previous positive test for COVID-19. He did join AT&T Sportsnet's broadcast during the first period, and said not only was it great to see Crosby get on the board - it could have a ripple effect on his line as a whole as well. And it did, with Guentzel also finding the back of the net and Bryan Rust assisting on both tallies.
LATVIAN LEGEND
While Crosby line played really well, but Pittsburgh's best trio might have been Blueger's. The centerman had a career night, producing his first three-point performance in the NHL to go along with a plus-4 rating and five shots. McGinn had a plus-3 rating to go along with his goal, while Aston-Reese - who is still looking for his first tally of the year - got two assists and went plus-3.
"I thought they were really solid defensively, as we've become accustomed to. But they made some real good plays offensively, too, and it was nothing forced," Reirden said. "They made the right play that was there. There was no cheating for offense. They earned and got what they deserved."
JARRY! JARRY!
The Penguins may have scored six goals tonight, but four days earlier in the nation's capital, they gave up six to Washington. And that game left a sour taste in Jarry's mouth.
"I think that's something I kind of took personally," the Penguins netminder said. "It's something I wanted to improve upon. I think just the last two games, Buffalo and then tonight, I thought I was better. I was keeping the puck in the center of me a lot more and blocking a lot more."

Reirden said tonight was a chance for Jarry to take a stance, and the coaching staff wanted to see how the 26-year-old responded.
"That's a big part of his growth as a goaltender, how he came out tonight," Reirden said. "I thought he was really solid. Handling pucks, rebound control, just the way he was playing at the top of his crease tonight… To me, that showed a guy that was out to prove something tonight. Sure enough, he did."
Overall, Jarry has been handling quite the workload as of late, as he has now started eight of Pittsburgh's last nine games. Reirden said after talking with goalie coach Andy Chido, who spends the most time with Jarry, they felt comfortable continuing to give him the nod between the pipes. And Jarry has been enjoying the opportunity to get into a groove during a normal season following the shortened, condensed one that was played intra-divisionally.
"It's been awesome," Jarry said. "I had stretches where I played quite a few games last year, but it's different. You're back to all the travel, you're playing different teams and every night it's something new. You're not playing your eight divisional games anymore, and I think it's exciting when you get to play a new team every night."