Penguins at Canadiens
The Pittsburgh Penguins missed a chance to take over sole possession of first place in the Metropolitan Division last time out and gives it another shot Thursday when they visit the Montreal Canadiens. The Penguins coughed up a two-goal lead in the third period and fell 4-3 in overtime against the New York Rangers on Wednesday to settle into a tie for first in the division with Washington at 85 points.
Pittsburgh did not get a point from its top three scorers Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and captain Sidney Crosby on Wednesday and is likely to have Tristan Jarry back in net against the Canadiens after sitting out the last two games. It will be the first of three matchups in 17 days as Montreal visits the Penguins on March 21 and 31 after Pittsburgh won two of three last season. The Canadiens took Eastern Conference-best Tampa Bay to the shootout before losing Saturday and knocked off Dallas, which is in playoff position in the West, 4-2 on Tuesday with three-power-play goals. “We came out in the beginning of the game in the way we wanted, and we came out hard and put the forecheck on them,” Montreal forward Artturi Lehkonen told reporters Tuesday. “. … It was a really good game for us.”
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBC Sports Network, AT&T SportsNet Pittsburgh, RDS (Montreal)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (40-26-5): Malkin’s six-game point streak came to an end Wednesday, but the big Russian has still accumulated 11 of his team-leading 87 points over the last seven games. Kessel owns 12 of his 78 points in the past 10 contests while Crosby (76 points) boasts a goal and five assists in the last four games for a Pittsburgh offense that is fifth in the league (3.24). Forward Bryan Rust returned Wednesday after missing two games with a concussion and scored his 11th goal of the season while posting five shots on net.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (26-32-12): Goalie Antti Niemi, who allowed seven goals in his last four outings, could get the start against the team he started the season and struggled mightily with (0-3-0, .797 save percentage). Brendan Gallagher scored one of three power plays for Montreal on Tuesday and leads the team with 26 tallies - five in the last seven games - and 43 points while Alex Galchenyuk is one point behind. Center Andrew Shaw suffered a head injury in a collision with Dallas’ Greg Pateryn and is out indefinitely.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh RW Patric Hornqvist needs two points to reach 400 in his career and Crosby is two shy of 700 assists.
2. Montreal recalled F Michael McCarron from Laval of the AHL on Wednesday.
3. The Penguins lead the league in power-play percentage (25.6), but are 3-for-25 over the last eight games.