Penguins cruise past Canadiens
MONTREAL -- Goaltender Matt Murray stopped 19 shots in a bounce-back effort to help the Pittsburgh Penguins earn a 4-1 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre.
Ian Cole, Eric Fehr, Jake Guentzel and Olli Maatta scored for Pittsburgh (28-11-5). Sven Andrighetto replied for the Canadiens.
Carey Price made 22 saves for Montreal (27-13-6).
Murray was beaten for seven goals Monday but emerged with an 8-7 overtime win against the Washington Capitals.
The Canadiens had a chance early on to get on the board when Phillip Danault sent a pass towards Andrew Shaw, but Murray quickly slid across to make the save.
Cole got the scoring started at 14:52 of the first period. Evgeni Malkin drove up the right side and showed patience before feeding Cole streaking in on the left side. Cole beat a screened Price with a shot from the left circle.
Conor Sheary had a chance to put Pittsburgh up by a pair when he held off Shea Weber, but Price denied him with a quick glove save.
Fehr, drawing in for injured center Matt Cullen after sitting the previous three games as a healthy scratch, made it 2-0 at 5:19 of the second period. The Canadiens, who often had trouble clearing their zone on the night, left Fehr unattended in the slot for his sixth of the season.
Guentzel made it 3-0 Penguins with a perfect tip of Cameron Gaunce point shot through traffic at 17:38.
However, the Canadiens got one right back, courtesy of Andrighetto. Defenseman Alexei Emelin found the Swiss winger behind the net, and Andrighetto moved quickly on a wraparound to beat Murray along the ice, glove side at 18:11.
The goal was Montreal's 11,600th at home in the NHL.
The Canadiens struggled to generate much offensively in the second, leading coach Michel Therrien to juggle a pair of his lines, recreating some lines that had some success in the past. Max Pacioretty joined Danault and Shaw while Paul Byron moved up to a line with Alex Galchenyuk and Alexander Radulov.
Maatta made it 4-1 Pittsburgh when he fired a shot from the high slot at 15:36 of the third period.
NOTES: LW/RW Brian Flynn played his 100th game with the Canadiens. ... The Penguins were without C Matt Cullen for the first time in 150 games. The team announced Tuesday that the veteran pivot was out for three to four weeks after taking a shot off the foot in the Monday game against Washington. ... The Wednesday game was the third and final meeting between the teams this season, and marked the third different goaltending matchup between the clubms. ... The Canadiens scratched LW Daniel Carr and D Ryan Johnston. ... Pittsburgh scratched RW Tom Kuhnhackl and D Steve Oleksy.