Penguins at Canadiens
The Pittsburgh Penguins will play their first road game and will have revenge on their minds when they visit the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night. The Penguins face Montreal in a rematch from last Saturday night, when Paul Byron scored twice and set up another goal to power the Canadiens to a 5-1 rout and snap a five-game skid in the series.
Pittsburgh bounced back from the shellacking by Montreal with a 4-2 win over Vegas behind a natural hat trick from Phil Kessel, but coach Mike Sullivan was happy to see his team tighten up its defense after allowing 11 goals in the first two games. "I could see our guys making more of a concerted effort to defend," Sullivan said. "I think our team is capable of getting to another level." Conversely, the Canadiens were unable to build on the win over the Penguins and were blanked by the Los Angeles Kings 3-0 on Thursday in their home opener. "We're too stagnant right now," Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. "The puck needs to move quicker. We all understand that, we're just not executing that right now."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ATT-Sportsnet-Pittsburgh, CITY, TVAS (Montreal)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (2-1-0): Goaltender Matt Murray, who missed Thursday's game due to a concussion, said he felt "pretty good" after going through a full practice Friday and will accompany the team to Montreal. "We thought he had a strong practice," Sullivan said Friday. "We'll see how he responds. He's status quo at this point, but we'll make decisions on a day-to-day basis." Evgeni Malkin, who was held off the scoreboard in Montreal after notching six points in the three-game series sweep last season, collected three assists Thursday.
ABOUT THE CANADIENS (1-1-1): Captain Shea Weber skated Thursday for the first time since he underwent surgery in June to repair a torn right meniscus. "It's always great to see your teammate come on the ice, especially when he's been out as long as he has," coach Claude Julien said. "It's a step in the right direction as part of his rehab. Hopefully his rehab goes really well and we've got a player back that's going to be extremely helpful to our team." The Canadiens worked on faceoffs at practice Friday after winning only 23 of 60 draws against Los Angeles.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh's penalty kill is tied for first in the league, thwarting all seven power-play chances.
2. Montreal's Tomas Plekanec, who is two games shy of 1,000 for his career, centered a line at Friday's practice.
3. Penguins F Bryan Rust joined Jake Guentzel on captain Sidney Crosby's line at Friday's practice.