Canadiens vs. Penguins: Montreal Gets a Bigger Test

Montreal survived Toronto. Pittsburgh just won 7-0. Saturday gives both teams a much better idea of what their opening wins actually mean.

The Canadiens left Toronto with a 3-2 win on opening night. Pittsburgh opened one night later by beating Philadelphia 7-0.

Those results make Saturday considerably more interesting than the usual first-week game between teams still figuring out what they have. Montreal already showed it could survive a difficult opening stretch, recover after falling behind 48 seconds into the season and protect a one-goal lead late. Pittsburgh opened by spreading seven goals across a lineup that looked much deeper than the one many expected entering the season.

Montreal will use the same lineup that beat Toronto, with Cole Caufield, Nick Suzuki and Chris Kreider together on the top line and Jakub Dobes making his second straight start. Pittsburgh counters with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and a collection of new pieces that immediately contributed against Philadelphia. Arturs Silovs gets the net again after opening with a shutout.

Montreal Had to Win the Hard Way

The Canadiens’ opener never became comfortable. William Nylander scored 48 seconds into the game, and Toronto controlled much of the opening stretch before Montreal found its footing. Josh Anderson tied it midway through the first period by redirecting an Alexandre Carrier point shot and batting his own rebound out of the air. Zachary Bolduc gave Montreal the lead early in the second, and Carrier eventually made it 3-1 through traffic in the third.

Nylander scored again with 4:14 remaining, which forced Montreal to defend the final minutes rather than coast through them. Dobes finished with 26 saves and made one of the game’s biggest stops 17 seconds into the second period, denying Kirill Marchenko on a one-timer before Bolduc scored at the other end a few minutes later.

That sequence tells Montreal more than a comfortable opening-night win would have. The Canadiens were pushed early, recovered, built a lead and then had to defend it under pressure. They enter Pittsburgh having already played a game where the ice tilted against them and they found a way back.

Pittsburgh’s Opener Was a Warning

The Penguins had a very different first night. Nick Robertson scored twice in his Pittsburgh debut, Filip Hallander finished with a goal and two assists, Hendrix Lapierre had a goal and an assist, and 14 different Penguins recorded at least one point in the 7-0 win over Philadelphia. Silovs faced only 19 shots and stopped every one.

The most encouraging part for Pittsburgh was how little the offense depended on Crosby carrying everything. Robertson scored twice. Hallander contributed three points. Ville Koivunen, Malkin and Egor Chinakhov scored. New defenders Kaedan Korczak and Samuel Girard added two assists each. The veterans were still there, but the new pieces immediately made the lineup look wider.

Philadelphia helped the Penguins by repeatedly losing structure, but Pittsburgh punished almost every mistake. Montreal now has to keep those transition opportunities from appearing in the first place.

Dobes Gets Another Start

Montreal is staying with Dobes after his opening-night performance rather than turning immediately to Samuel Montembeault. That decision gives the Canadiens continuity after a game where Dobes settled in after the early Nylander goal and repeatedly gave the team time to recover.

Pittsburgh presents a different problem from Toronto. Crosby still controls possessions at a level few centers can match, Robertson adds speed and shooting beside him, and Rickard Rakell has historically produced well against Montreal. Rakell has 20 points in 22 career games against the Canadiens, including 13 over his last nine meetings.

Dobes will need cleaner support around the crease than he received in the opening minute against Toronto. Pittsburgh’s first game showed how quickly one defensive mistake can become several. The Canadiens cannot spend the first seven or eight minutes waiting to find their pace again.

Silovs Gets the Other Net

Silovs enters from the opposite position. He was almost untouched in Philadelphia, making 19 saves while the Penguins controlled enough of the game that the shutout never required a constant series of desperation stops.

Montreal should make his night busier. Caufield, Suzuki and Kreider give the first line more finish and more presence around the net than Pittsburgh faced Wednesday. Juraj Slafkovsky, Alex Newhook and Ivan Demidov give Montreal another skilled line behind them, while Phillip Danault anchors a third line with Alexandre Texier and Kirby Dach.

The Canadiens also generated their opening-night goals in three different ways. Anderson scored around the crease, Bolduc finished a play created by Mike Matheson driving the middle and Carrier scored through traffic from the point. That variety matters against a goalie coming off a quiet shutout. Montreal can test Silovs without waiting for Caufield to beat him clean from distance.

Montreal’s Depth Gets a Better Test

Josh Anderson was one of Montreal’s best players against Toronto, finishing with a goal and an assist after spending much of the night around the net and on the forecheck. The Canadiens’ own game-day preview singled him out after the opener, and his ability to make Pittsburgh defend below the circles becomes especially useful against a Penguins team that was able to play almost entirely on its terms in Philadelphia.

The lower lines also matter more here. Pittsburgh had 14 players record a point in Game 1, so Montreal cannot treat the minutes away from Crosby and Malkin as recovery shifts. Hallander, Lapierre and Koivunen all contributed in the opener, and Andrei Kuzmenko is expected to make his Penguins debut Saturday after returning to the team.

Montreal needs the same kind of distributed game. The opener worked because the goals came from Anderson, Bolduc and Carrier rather than requiring Suzuki or Caufield to manufacture everything themselves.

Pittsburgh Is Still Missing Important Pieces

The 7-0 score hides some real absences. Bryan Rust remains week to week with an upper-body injury, while Justin Brazeau and Ryan Graves are also out. Blake Lizotte has been working back from a lower-body injury, and Pittsburgh’s morning status still left his availability unsettled.

Montreal has its own absence on defense with Kaiden Guhle still recovering from adductor surgery, but the Canadiens are otherwise keeping the same six defensemen from Toronto: Matheson with Noah Dobson, Lane Hutson with Carrier, and Jayden Struble with Arber Xhekaj.

The missing players make this an early test of depth for both teams. Pittsburgh handled its first one easily. Montreal already showed it can defend without Guhle. Saturday forces both clubs to do it against a better opponent than either saw in the opener.

Crosby Still Controls the Center of the Game

Pittsburgh can change as much of the roster as it wants and still begin with the same basic fact: Sidney Crosby remains the player Montreal has to manage first. Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang earned their 494th regular-season win together Wednesday, the most ever by an NHL trio.

Crosby does not need a multi-point game to make Pittsburgh difficult. He can control faceoffs, extend possessions, pull defensive coverage low and create space for Robertson and Rakell. Danault gives Montreal one of the better defensive centers available for that assignment, and Martin St. Louis can use him aggressively whenever the matchups allow.

The game becomes harder for Montreal if Crosby’s line forces Suzuki into long defensive shifts. The Canadiens want their first line attacking with speed, not beginning every possession below its own circles after spending 40 seconds chasing the puck.

The First Ten Minutes Matter More Tonight

Montreal survived a slow opening in Toronto. Repeating it in Pittsburgh carries more risk. The Penguins scored twice in the first period against Philadelphia and controlled the game from there. Robertson opened the scoring at 7:26 before Koivunen made it 2-0 at 15:44.

The Canadiens have also been in Pittsburgh since Wednesday, holding two practices and spending several days together before the game. They have had enough time to move beyond the emotional high of beating Toronto and prepare specifically for the Penguins.

A cleaner start would let Montreal use its speed rather than spend the first period recovering. Controlled exits from Hutson, Matheson and Dobson can force Pittsburgh to defend backward, where Kreider, Anderson and Slafkovsky become much more difficult to handle below the dots.

Special Teams Can Break the Shape Quickly

Neither opener tells us much about sustainable special-teams performance yet. Montreal went scoreless on four power plays against Toronto. Pittsburgh’s seven goals against Philadelphia came from a game that quickly stopped resembling a normal one. One early penalty Saturday can still change how both benches deploy their best players.

Montreal has enough skill with Suzuki, Caufield, Hutson and Demidov to make a Pittsburgh penalty expensive. The Penguins still have Crosby, Malkin, Karlsson and Letang available to do the same at the other end. The Canadiens are better served by keeping the game at five-on-five, where their younger legs and depth can become more relevant over three periods.

That becomes especially important if Montreal gets ahead. Pittsburgh’s veteran core has spent too many years turning one late power play into a completely different game for the Canadiens to start handing out unnecessary opportunities.

Pittsburgh’s 7-0 Win Needs Context

Seven goals demand attention. They also came in Game 1 against a Philadelphia team that lost structure early, allowed 38 shots and gave Pittsburgh repeated opportunities to turn small mistakes into clean looks. The Penguins were excellent at exploiting the game they were given. Saturday asks them to reproduce that against a Montreal team that reached the Eastern Conference Final last spring and opened this season by winning in Toronto.

The Canadiens took two of three meetings from Pittsburgh last season and arrive with more speed throughout the lineup than Philadelphia showed Wednesday.

That makes Saturday a much better measurement of Pittsburgh’s new depth. Robertson already looks comfortable beside Crosby. Hallander and Lapierre already produced. Silovs already has a shutout. Montreal forces all of those developments into a game where the opponent can answer back.

Montreal Can Make Pittsburgh Defend

The Canadiens’ best version of this game comes from sustained pressure rather than trading rushes with Crosby and Malkin. Suzuki’s line can control the puck below the goal line, Kreider gives it another body around the crease and Montreal’s defense can keep possessions alive from the blue line.

Pittsburgh’s age becomes relevant when those shifts begin stacking. Crosby is 39, Malkin is 40, Letang is 39 and Karlsson is 36. They remain excellent players. Montreal’s advantage comes from making them defend enough possessions that the younger legs behind Suzuki, Demidov, Hutson and Slafkovsky have somewhere to matter.

The Canadiens also have to resist turning that speed into impatience. Pittsburgh showed in Philadelphia how quickly a bad change or neutral-zone turnover can become a goal. Montreal can play fast without treating every possession like a rush opportunity.

Montreal Has a Path to Another Road Win

Pittsburgh’s opener demands more respect than a typical early-season performance. Seven goals, a shutout and contributions throughout the lineup suggest the Penguins may have found more usable depth than expected. Their home opener adds another layer of energy, with the franchise beginning its 60th-anniversary celebration at PPG Paints Arena.

Montreal still brings the matchup I prefer over 60 minutes. Dobes already handled a difficult road environment. Suzuki’s group gives the Canadiens a stronger top line than Philadelphia presented. Danault can take difficult Crosby minutes. Hutson and Matheson can move the puck quickly enough to keep Pittsburgh’s forecheck from settling into long possessions.

The game should remain close longer than Pittsburgh’s opener did. That favors Montreal if its speed and depth begin showing up after the opening energy burns off.

Prediction: Montreal Canadiens 4, Pittsburgh Penguins 2. Pittsburgh’s 7-0 opener raises the level of the test considerably, and Silovs gives the Penguins a chance to keep the game compressed. Montreal arrives with the same lineup that won in Toronto, several days of preparation in Pittsburgh and enough depth to make this game harder on the Penguins as it progresses.

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