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The waiting is the hardest part. Pens lose 3-2 to Montreal

The Penguins fall 3-2 to the Montreal Canadiens. Check out all of the goals and some quick thoughts on the game

By Hooks Orpik
Justin K. Aller/Getty Images

The Goals

The Montreal Canadiens struck first in the first period, after a bobble with the puck by Ian Cole and Kris Letang failed to clear Tomas Plekanec out of the crease, Max Pacioretty was able to take a long distance shot that Marc-Andre Fleury couldn't find and got by him.

Beau Bennett - who was quite good in this game - got the Penguins tied at 1 with a great wrist shot from the right side of the ice.

The tie would be short-lived, with Pacioretty exploiting some time and space given to him by a "caught in no man's land" Rob Scuderi

Luckily the Pens would score again quickly, courtesy of a Phil Keseel pass to Kris Letang. Letang's shot fluttered by Carey Price but that's OK. Whether it's a fastball or changeup if it gets in the net it counts.

tn the 3rd period, Cole had another shaky moment getting pulled out of position and Tomas Flesichmann buried a puck short-side on Fleury

And that was it. Pens lose.

Ten more thoughts:

  • Something about playing the Canadiens brings out the best in Bennett. He had his best game of the season last year against them, and it's early but he was awesome against them this year too.
  • 4 shots for Sidney Crosby tonight after a much maligned 0 shot start to the season. Unfortunately though, with 2:17 left, Evgeni Malkin pushed over a beautiful cross-ice pass that Crosby couldn't elevate enough to beat Price.
  • Tough night for Plotnikov, he went off-sides, iced the puck, took an offensive zone penalty, got hooked down to lead to the eventual game winner. Not all his fault, but a rough night.
  • Scuderi with a game high 3 giveaways. In addition to not playing well on the PK. But we trudge on.
  • Nice night for Matt Cullen in the faceoff circle going 6-1. Daniel Sprong played 9 minutes (and himself was a little sloppy and needlessly offsides) but it's nice to see 4th line players not as total anchors.
  • Crosby (5) and David Perron (6) combined for 11 hits. Probably more than expected.
  • Beau-nino (Bennett + Nick Bonino) took 10 of the Pens 33 shots. Those two have developed quite the chemistry already and are playing as a formidable 3rd line.
  • Not the best night for Cole, who was at fault for 2 goals against.
  • Some people on the internet were blaming Fleury for the game winner, for getting beat short-side (see the GIF above), but 2 things. 1) great shot by Fleischmann (who got plenty of room with Cole flying by). 2) Fleury had a man to his left, that he had to respect. He couldn't sell out totally to that short-side, in case Fleischmann passed the puck. Could he have stopped it? Yeah, I guess. But it's easy to say that watching the shot in slow motion. Nothing wrong with saying it was a great shot and seeing the ice like Fleury did and knowing he had to be wary of a possible pass across.
  • Another game, another loss, but the Pens showed some bright spots tonight. They battled, and scored a couple goals. Maybe could get another couple with the chances they had. Gotta get back to it.

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