Pens Points: Buckle up, baby!!!

It’s been 20 weeks since the last Penguins game against New Jersey on March 10th. That’s 144 days to be exact. But the wait is nearly over! The Penguins and Canadiens will play Game 1 of their best-of-five series this evening at 8 p.m. ET in Toronto, Ontario. Get up to speed with today’s Pens Points!

Be sure to check back today on PensBurgh for the game preview and game thread like old times!

Penguins News

Michelle Crechiolo gives us her Pens Inside Scoop “3 Things” she had to report from yesterday’s final practice for the Penguins before the opener against Montreal. [NHL]

Crechiolo then goes much more in depth with her storylines to look forward to against Montreal. She put together probably the best series preview out there. Very much worth reading as a Penguins fan. [NHL]

Evgeni Malkin turned 34 yesterday and PensBurgh looked back at the Geno Years through his impressive amount of animal pictures. From bus sized sharks to actual penguins to uncomfortable camels, Malkin has seen quite a lot off the ice to go with his on-ice photo worthy moments. Happy birthday, Mr. 101. [PensBurgh]

As you may have already heard, the series against Montreal will be a best-of-five. The last time the Penguins played in such a series was in 1982 when they took on the New York Islanders in the middle of their four year dynasty from 1980-83. The Penguins nearly ruined that reign and were the only thing that slowed down the eventual Cup winning Islanders in ‘82. [Trib Live]

The friendly folks at Raw Charge have been running a series on why the Lightning would want to play each team in the Qualifier Round, should they meet. Here’s what they had to say about the Penguins. [Raw Charge]

Le Bleu-Blanc-Rouge News

Not many people are giving the Canadiens much hope against the Penguins, but Habs Eyes on the Prize breaks down how Montreal can play well defensively to give themselves any chance. [Habs EOTP]

There was some optimism going around EOTP yesterday as well. Here’s the optimist’s guide for the Habs to beat Pittsburgh. [Habs EOTP]

The players in Montreal have to go in with expectations of winning, despite the team they’re matched against. The Canadiens have every chance to rewrite the script on how their season was shaping up before the Covid pandemic. [CBC]

The Montreal Gazette breaks down both teams in five key categories from the on-ice talent to coaches and intangibles. It wasn’t pretty for Montreal on paper. [Montreal Gazette]

NHL News

For the first time in quite possibly ever, the NHL actually has done the best job out of the four major professional sports in returning to play. It wasn’t easy, and the NHL deserves some recognition for making it this far. [Yahoo!]

The number one seeds are still very much up in the air for both Conferences with their round robin tournament to decide spots 1-4. With an upset or two also a real possibility in the Qualifiers, those playoff seedings will be very important this tournament. [Yahoo!]

USA Today posed seven pretty intriguing questions about the two hub cities for the NHL. Here’s a quick read pertaining to all 24 teams in the playoffs. [USA Today]

Get ready folks! The NHL playoffs are nearly upon us. It’s about to be hockey’s version of March Madness beginning at noon today. BUCKLE UP, BABY!!!