The Canadiens climbed out of a four-goal hole in Pittsburgh on Saturday, but they could not finish the comeback. Nick Suzuki set up two goals in the final 68 seconds of regulation to make it 5-5, and then Tommy Novak won it for the Penguins 1:33 into overtime. Final score: 6-5 at PPG Paints Arena.
Montreal (1-0-1) was outshot 30-25 and gave up two power-play goals, but the story of the night was a team that was down 5-1 in the second period and still pushed the game to overtime.
Caufield Opens the Scoring
Cole Caufield got the Canadiens on the board at 3:49 of the first period with a wrist shot, with Suzuki and Lane Hutson picking up the assists. Montreal controlled the opening 13 minutes and led the shots 7-2 until Mike Matheson took an interference penalty at 13:38. That opened the door. Evgeni Malkin scored on the power play at 14:07 to tie it 1-1, and the Penguins came on strong late in the period to edge the shots 9-8.
The Chances That Got Away
The Canadiens had opportunities to build a real lead in the first two periods and did not cash in. Josh Anderson, Nick Suzuki and Jake Evans each had a breakaway that did not end in a goal, and a shot at an empty net hit the post. Those were the kind of chances that decide a game like this one.
The Second Period Gets Away
Everything fell apart in the middle frame. Declan Carlile scored 32 seconds in, Samuel Girard made it 3-1 at 7:59, and Novak made it 4-1 at 14:01. Montreal was then whistled for too many men on the ice, and Ben Kindel tipped in a Penguins power-play goal at 15:32 for a 5-1 lead. Pittsburgh outshot the Canadiens 15-7 in the period, and Jakub Dobes was left under siege.
The Canadiens did get one back before the break. On a four-on-four, Suzuki beat Silovs with a backhand at 18:46, set up by Hutson and Noah Dobson, to make it 5-2.
Alexandre Carrier was also a casualty. He went hard into the boards on contact with Egor Chinakhov, left the game in the second period and finished with only 8:32 of ice time. There was no update on his status.
A Third-Period Push
Caufield scored his second of the night at 3:31 of the third, with Chris Kreider assisting, to make it 5-3. Montreal outshot Pittsburgh 10-5 in the period, and Arturs Silovs held the lead until the final minutes.
With Dobes on the bench for an extra attacker, Kreider scored at 18:52, his first goal as a Canadien, with Suzuki and Ivan Demidov assisting to make it 5-4.
Just 24 seconds later, Demidov tied it at 19:16, with Suzuki and Hutson setting him up. Both goals came with six skaters on the ice, and the game was tied with 44 seconds left.
Overtime Ends It
The Canadiens had the first chances in overtime, with Suzuki and Caufield both missing the net, but Pittsburgh went the other way. Malkin set up Novak, who beat Dobes at 1:33 for his second goal of the night.
By the Numbers
Pittsburgh outshot Montreal 30-25. Dobes stopped 24 of 30 shots (.800) and Silovs stopped 20 of 25 (.800). The Penguins went 2-for-4 on the power play, while the Canadiens were 0-for-2.
Suzuki finished with four points (one goal, three assists) and a plus-4 rating in 22:43. Hutson picked up three assists in 29:06 of ice time, Caufield scored twice, and both Kreider and Demidov had a goal and an assist. For Pittsburgh, Novak had two goals and an assist, Malkin had one goal and two assists, and Erik Karlsson and Kris Letang each added two assists.
What’s Next
The Canadiens are back at the Bell Centre on Tuesday, October 6 for their home opener against the Carolina Hurricanes, and they host Nashville on Thursday, October 8. They won their opener 3-2 in Toronto, a game we covered in our recap of the win over the Leafs. For more on the game, see the NHL.com game recap.
Coach’s Take
Eleven goals, a four-goal comeback and an overtime finish: if you came looking for entertainment, this game delivered. The scoresheet tells a stranger story than the final score. Pittsburgh scored five straight goals, four of them in the second period, to take a 5-1 lead, and Montreal answered with four in a row to tie it. It still was not enough. One two-on-one in overtime, Malkin to Novak, ended it, and Dobes had no chance on that play.
If anyone still had doubts about the top line, this game should have erased them. Suzuki had four points, Caufield scored twice and Kreider added a goal and an assist, for eight points in total. The trio finished a combined plus-8 with eight shots and nine hits. Lane Hutson, who was quiet in Tuesday’s opener, bounced back with three assists, and Ivan Demidov got his first two points of the season, including the tying goal late in regulation.
The bigger concern is the one we have been raising since the preseason. Derek Lalonde has to fix the penalty kill and the defensive-zone system if this team wants to repeat a 100-point season. Montreal allowed two power-play goals, and too often the players looked confused, with poor coverage, poor communication and a lot of skating around in their own end. Jakub Dobes did not have his best night, but you cannot hang this loss on him. Plenty of players in front of him struggled.
The second line struggled again. Alex Newhook does not look like the right fit alongside Demidov and Juraj Slafkovsky, and I still prefer him on the wing. Do not be surprised if Oliver Kapanen is back on the second line for the next game.
On a hard night for the defense, Hutson aside, one defenseman stood out in my eyes: Noah Dobson. He had an assist, but his value is not flashy and does not always show up on the scoresheet. His stick work was excellent, and his gap control broke up a lot of Pittsburgh plays before they became chances.
Montreal showed it can score and it can bounce back. It also showed it still makes mistakes a contender cannot afford, and there is a lot of work left to do before this team can call itself one.
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