[SBN Montreal Canadiens blog - Habs Eyes on the Prize]
The Penguins will look to bounce back from Monday's loss to the Hurricanes with a win tonight over Montreal. So far this season the Pens have a 2-0 series lead over the Habs, allowing only one goal in each of those meetings. Carey Price and Jaroslav Halak have each started in net against Pittsburgh this season but have yet to really stop Sid and Co. Pittsburgh is out-scoring Montreal 9-2 over two, the first of which brought Sidney Crosby a hat trick on October 28.
As of late it would seem the Canadiens are finding their stride. Winners in three straight, both Price and Halak continue to split duties between the pipes and have since started making some headway into the Top 8 in the Eastern Conference.
On Tuesday night the Habs skated out of Ottawa with a 4-1 win thanks to goals from Mike Cammalleri, Scott Gomez, Marc-Andre Bergeron and Andrei Kostitsyn. Halak tallied the win, putting him at 6-4 for the season but just 2-3 in his last five.
Who will the Pens go up against tonight? Hard to say. In the first meeting Halak didn't last very long, giving up four goals in two periods before replaced by Price who let in an additional two. In the last game on November 25, Price started (and finished!) the game, but allowed three goals on 30 shots. If I had to guess I'd say Price gets the nod tonight.
Other guys you want to keep an eye on: Tomas Plekanec (6g, 25a), Mike Cammalleri (17g, 10a) and Scott Gomez (4g, 11a). Brian Gionta remains out of the Montreal lineup since breaking a bone in his foot about a month ago.
Puck and thread drop at 7:30.