Stanley Cup Playoffs: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens series preview
Who has the edge in the Stanley Cup Playoffs play-in round series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens?
After a four-month-long hiatus thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will finally start on August 1 with the play-in rounds. One of the more lopsided play-in round series is the one between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens.
On paper, this series is tilted towards the Penguins. The Pens overcame numerous injuries to fall just short of being one of the top four teams in the Eastern Conference. They’ve rarely iced their full, healthy lineup but now they’ll be able to. On the other side of the ice, the Montreal Canadiens are lucky to just be in the postseason, as they’re the 12th seed in the Eastern Conference. Furthermore, the Penguins won two of their three meetings this season.
However, these are odd times and there has never been a postseason like this one. So you can pretty much throw all of that out of the window. Both teams haven’t played a serious game of hockey since mid-March and both teams are going to have to get into playoff mode quickly in a five-game series.
Because it’s been a while since the Penguins and Canadiens have played, here’s a refresher on how their seasons went.
Penguins
The injury bug hit Pittsburgh very hard this season. Only two of their players (Teddy Blueger and Marcus Pettersson) played in all 69 games and only seven played in at least 60. Evgeni Malkin missed 14 games, Sidney Crosby missed 28 games, and Jake Guentzel hasn’t played since December 30th. Despite all those injuries, the Pens still managed to finish 13th in goals scored and 10th in fewest goals against.
Canadiens
Meanwhile, Montreal limped into the playoffs, barely making it as the final seed in the Eastern Conference. They finished just three points ahead of the Buffalo Sabres and New Jersey Devils. Tomas Tatar led the team in scoring with 61 points and he tied for the team lead in goals (22) with Brendan Gallagher. They finished 18th in goals scored and 23rd in fewest goals against.