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With the Habs on pace for 168 points this season–no, let’s not count those chickens quite yet, after just a single win on the books. But the bleu, blanc, et rouge were indeed coming off a season-opening 3-2 win over the Maple Leafs, followed by three days off to hone their game some more, given the abbreviated pre-season this year. The Penguins, the hosts for tonight’s shindig, of course had opened their season with a 7-0 shellacking of the Flyers, but it remained to be seen how much credit for that score was due to the Penguins’ strength and how much to their rivals’ struggles.

After a game of ebbs and flows, it’s still unclear as to how good a team Pittsburgh really has. They took a 6-5 overtime victory, but that’s after scoring five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead, and then giving up four straight. The Habs clearly could have won the game with some better defensive play and better goaltending. Having played the way they did, they should be happy to take a point home from this game.

Starting Lines

Caufield – Suzuki – Kreider
Slafkovsky – Newhook – Demidov
Texier – Danault – Dach
Bolduc – Evans – Anderson

Hutson – Carrier
Matheson – Dobson
Struble – Xhekaj

Dobes
Montembeault

Game Points

#1: It took less than four minutes for the Habs fans to get what they were waiting for: a goal from Cole Caufield. Shortly after blocking a shot in the Habs’ zone, the young phenom sent Nick Suzuki and Caufield on a rush on the right side of the ice. Suzuki sent a crisp pass to Caufield, and the winger put the puck behind Arturs Silovs and on the top shelf to give Montreal the early lead.

#2: It was a tale of two halves in the first period. The Habs dominated until the midway point of the period, outshooting the home team 8-1 and not giving them any real scoring opportunity. The second half was the complete opposite, though, with the Penguins having the 8-1 shots edge and the Habs hanging on for dear life. One sees big adjustments during intermissions, but it was stunning how the game turned completely around mid-period.

#3: As the struggles of that second half were just unfolding, Mike Matheson was sent off for interfering with Sidney Crosby, as Matheson pushed Crosby into the open door of the Habs bench. The referees didn’t seem to mind Crosby retaliating, though, so it was a Pittsburgh power play. And 30 seconds later, the Montreal lead had evaporated, as Evgeni Malkin was left all alone at the edge of Jakub Dobes’s crease. That might have been Noah Dobson’s role, but admittedly the young defender was not a penalty killing regular, but had to fill in for Matheson, who was in the box.

#4: It was admittedly the second period, not the first, but the Habs again conceded a goal on the first shot. This time it was Declan Carlile skating around Mike Matheson at the top of the Montreal zone, and other Habs seeming a bit lackadaisical, allowing Carlile to cut to the centre and take a shot. Dobes left a little too much space as he was trying to track Carlile’s movement, and the puck beat Dobes on the glove side.

#5: For the third time in less than 30 minutes of play, the Habs had a clear breakaway. This time it was Suzuki, following Josh Anderson and Jake Evans in the first, but none of them were able to beat Silovs. Maybe shootout practice would help these plays, too?

#6: Things went from bad to worse and then ugly after that, as the Habs gave up 15 shots in the second. Samuel Girard made it 3-1 eight minutes into the period, flipping the puck into the net over a sprawling Dobes after a chaotic play in front of the net. Tommy Novak then scored Pittsburgh’s fourth goal 14 minutes in on a two-on-one break, and Ben Kindel scored the home team’s fifth in a row, deflecting an Erik Karlsson shot past Dobes to make it 5-1.

#7: It wasn’t quite all over yet, as Suzuki narrowed the gap to three goals on a great individual effort with just over a minute remaining in the second. Taking a pass from Lane Hutson in the Montreal zone, Suzuki carried the puck through the neutral zone and then into the Pittsburgh end of the ice, beating Kaedan Korczak and Kindel along the way. As he skated past Silovs, Suzuki beat the Latvian goaltender on the short side.

#8: Caufield got the Habs within reach with a goal 3:31 into the third period, taking a Chris Kreider pass and one-timing it past Silovs 30 feet away from the net. However, it was almost back to a three-goal Pittsburgh lead just two minutes later, as Egor Chinakhov slid the puck past Dobes after extended Penguins pressure in the Montreal zone. However, Martin St-Louis challenged the goal based on Erik Karlsson’s zone entry having been offside, and the referees agreed with that rather quickly, resetting the game to 5-3.

#9: Chinakhov was sent off for holding with 3:41 on the clock, allowing the Habs to pull Dobes for a 6-on-4 power play, but they could not beat Silovs during that. However, Kreider converted a Suzuki pass with 1:08 remaining, and Ivan Demidov took a cross-crease pass, also from Suzuki, and flipped it over Silovs to tie the game at five apiece and send it into overtime.

#10: Suzuki, Caufield and Hutson had superb control of the play for the first few minutes of overtime, but it all fell apart just before 3:30, as Alex Newhook and Demidov were both chasing Kris Letang, allowing a two-on-one attack by Malkin and Novak. Novak scored on the play, keeping the pair of points in Pittsburgh.

HW Habs Three Stars

First Star: Nick Suzuki (1g, 3a, +4, 22:50 TOI) was dominant tonight, after having been fairly invisible in the season opener against Toronto. He put in a superb effort on the goal in the second to start the comeback, and made two excellent passes with the net empty to pull the Habs even.

Second Star: Cole Caufield (2g, 0a, +3, 22:43 TOI) did what he does best, scoring goals on a Saturday night. The first goal was a classic Caufield shot, but the second, from a pass from Kreider, was on a play where the Habs were trying to create goal-front havoc, and Caufield took advantage of that–even if it was from 30 feet out.

Third Star: Lane Hutson (0g, 3a, +1, 29:06 TOI) played 20 minutes five-on-five, but no more than six minutes with any single defence partner as Martin St-Louis was using him as his not-so-secret weapon whenever the Habs needed a boost. Still, only one goal against while he was on the ice, more than balanced out by his three assists.