Montreal Canadiens 3 – Pittsburgh Penguins 1, Game Two: The Script

The Igloo froze with 17132 people inside. The Montreal Canadiens evened the Eastern Conference Semifinals series and stole the Pittsburgh Penguins home-ice advantage.

Michael Cammalleri and Jaroslav Halak led the Habs to a 3-1 win, upsetting the reigning champion. The forward score two goals while the goalie stood tall, making 38 saves in 39 shots.

Pittsburgh took the lead in the first period with a goal by Matt Cooke (4:38), his fourth of the playoffs. Brian Gionta responded ten minutes later after a great feed from Scott Gomez.

In the second, Cammalleri scored the winning goal, batting the puck midair. He set the final score in the third with a perfect snapshot after a giveaway from Pittsburgh.

Now the series moves to the Bell Centre in Montreal for game three on Tuesday night.

Now, here’s the game’s Script:

The Main Characters

The Hero: Michael Cammalleri

The guy’s on fire. Cammalleri scored two goals to sum a total of eight in the Playoffs, sitting one behind the leader, Joe Pavelski of the San Jose Sharks.

No.13 tied the score 7:29 into the second period with a Cirque-du-Soleil-esque goal. He controlled the puck with his knee like Zinedine Zidane and then he batted it midair like Albert Pujols; a beauty worthy of Top-Ten recognition.

With three minutes left in the game Cammy killed all the hope left for Pittsburgh by profiting from a turnover in the neutral zone. His wrist shot beat Marc-André Fleury on the glove side and flooded the Mellon Arena with frustration.

The Villain: Sidney Crosby

The Habs achieved something nearly impossible for most teams: to break Crosby’s poise. Only one shot on goal, a minus-two and a huge giveaway that lead to Montreal’s third goal with three minutes on the clock.

Crosby showed frustration to the point of breaking his stick against Halak’s net, though no unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was called. Apparently the Kid has a VIP treatment for being the best player in the league.

Truth be said, he apologized to Fleury for giving away the puck that set Montreal’s lead-stretching goal. In any case, the Canadiens should know that Crosby won’t have a bad night too often.

The Sidekid: Jaroslav Halak

Jaro bounced back after his bad performance of game one. But more important, he bounced back from a shaky first period in game two.

The Slovak looked slow and out of position after 20 minutes, but he managed to redress his act on the way to his fifth win in the Playoffs. He stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced. He was solid and received the necessary support from his defense, which turned once again into a blocking machine.

The Extra: Habs’ Fourth Line

Andrei Kostitsyn: 1:43 of TOI, Ben Maxwell: 1:03; Mathieu Darche: 54 seconds! They spent more time suiting up than playing.

But the problems for the Habs’ fourth line began in Pittsburgh’s goal. Jacques Martin sent Kostitsyn and company to cover Talbot, Dupuis and Matt Cooke. AK messed the coverage, the defense got caught backing up. The result? Cooke deked Halak for the 1-0.

On their second shift a holding penalty was called on Hall Gill. After that, they watched the rest of the game from the bench.

Key Moment(s) in the plot: Montreal Penalty Kill

The Canadiens learned the lesson the hard way. After giving four goals on four power plays in game one, they made the necessary adjustments and resisted the three attempts the Penguin’s PP unit had in game two.

Montreal blocked 15 shots and kept focused the 60 minutes, limiting their time in the box. Once again, PK Subban showed that his learning curve

The Quotes:

“We were trying to limit their top scoring chances, or their Grade-A scoring chances. They still got some and Jaro played well.” – Michael Cammalleri.

“I needed to be better, I knew that. I think the guys knew that they needed to step up. We did that tonight.” – Jaroslav Halak.

“We had some second opportunities that we didn't get our sticks on, or we got our sticks on and missed the net. He (Halak) played solid, there's no doubt.” – Sidney Crosby. 

All quotations from NHL.com game recap.