Pens Points: Looking for an edge

Monday’s victory helped pull the Penguins even with the Canadiens in their best-of-five qualifying series, now they will look to get a leg up with another win when the teams meet for Game 3 this evening in Toronto. Montreal will take over as the designated home team for Games 3 and 4 starting tonight and receive whatever ‘home ice’ advantage that comes along with it.

Puck drop is scheduled for 8:00 PM and will be broadcast locally on AT&T Sports Network and nationally on NBCSN.

Start this game day with the latest team news in Pens Points...

If you look at the shot totals and scoring chances through two games, it paints a pretty clear picture of what is happening. The Penguins are generating offense left and right, but so far, Carey Price has been keeping the Canadiens afloat. [Pensburgh]

From Carey Price playing like an MVP to Evgeni Malkin being held off the scoresheet through two games, this qualifying series has produced many surprises. It will be interesting to see what the rest of this matchup has in store. [Pensburgh]

Despite leading all players in shots in the series, Evgeni Malkin has failed to register a single point in either game. Although the Penguins big Russian has nothing to show for his work, head coach Mike Sullivan believes a breakthrough is coming. [Trib Live]

If you’re looking to pick a MVP for the Penguins so far in this series, John Marino has to be in the conversation. The rookie defenseman is getting his first taste of NHL playoff action and looks like a player who has been doing this his entire life. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette]

For all the questions surrounding the Penguins goaltender situation entering the playoffs, Matt Murray has done his best to provide some answers. On Monday night Murray showed flashes of the guy who led the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cups. [Penguins]

In other goalie news, bubble backups Casey DeSmith and Emil Larmi had plenty of time to bond in the AHL this season and they did so over disc golf. Those bonding sessions have carried over to Toronto where they found some open space at BMO Field. [Penguins]

Every year the Mario Lemieux Foundation holds its annual 6.6K run/walk even to raise funds for its mission. Like many other race events this year it had gone virtual do to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Runners from all 50 states and 14 countries have signed up. [KDKA]

Did you know that two former Penguins owners tried to invest in a flailing Russian professional team in the early 1990’s? Well if you didn’t, you can learn all about their seemingly comedic adventure in a new documentary titled ‘Red Penguins.’ [New York Times]

News and notes from around the NHL...

Less than two weeks after revealing their team name and logo, the Seattle Kraken have set a new NHL record for retailer sales, surpassing the Vegas Golden Knights. The Kraken are in the top five for sales across all professional sports leagues at the moment. [ESPN]

If you were to look just at the penalty numbers from these first few days of Stanley Cup playoff action you might think you were watching October hockey. For postseason hockey, games are being called incredibly tight both ways. [Yahoo Sports!]