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Stanley Cup Playoffs: Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Montreal Canadiens series preview

By Dave Stevenson

Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens and Tristan Jarry #35 of the Pittsburgh Penguins (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
Shea Weber #6 of the Montreal Canadiens and Tristan Jarry #35 of the Pittsburgh Penguins (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
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carey price, canadiens, nhl, stanley cup playoffs, penguins
Carey Price #31 of the Montreal Canadiens (Photo by Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images) /

Matchups

Forwards

The Penguins are finally healthy, which should give their forward core a significant boost. Crosby, Malkin, and Guentzel have not all been healthy at the same time since November 9. Having that trio healthy should get Pittsburgh back to being a high-octane offense.

Despite injuries, Crosby had a good season with 47 points in 41 games. It’s insane to think that’s considered average for him. Crosby was clearly not 100% at the time of the hiatus, so he should be rested and ready to dominate in the postseason.

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Malkin stepped up huge this season, leading the team in points with 74 in 55 games. Having Crosby healthy should make it even harder for teams to stop him. Guentzel was having an incredible season before his injury. I can’t stress enough how huge it is for the Penguins to get him back.

Bryan Rust, Jared McCann, Patrick Marleau, Brandon Tanev, Conor Sheary, and Patric Hornqvist each provide quality forward depth.

Meanwhile, the Canadiens were led by Tatar and Gallagher. Philip Dannault is easily one of the most underrated players in the NHL. He should be on everyone’s Selke Trophy ballot. If he scored more, there’s a good chance he’d be a Selke Trophy finalist.

Max Domi’s status for this series is up in the air. He has type 1 diabetes, which makes him at severe risk of not just contracting the novel coronavirus, but also of suffering from its symptoms. We should know more about Domi’s status soon, but if he doesn’t play, he’s a huge loss for the Canadiens.

Montreal has quality forward depth. The main issue is they don’t have any stars. That’s going to be a huge problem in this series.

Advantage: Penguins

Defense

If Dannault’s one of the most underrated forwards in the league, Kris Letang’s probably one of the most underrated defensemen. He’s about as consistent as they come when it comes to production and though he has a tendency to turn the puck over, he more than makes up for it.

Having Brian Dumoulin back should help minimize Letang’s turnovers. When they’re together, they’ve been quite good over the years. John Marino has been a diamond in the rough for the Pens. They got him from the Edmonton Oilers and he quickly emerged as one of their best defensemen.

Pettersson is another underrated defenseman. Much like Marino, a lot of what he does well doesn’t necessarily end up on the score sheet. Justin Schultz, if healthy, could give them a huge boost.

On the other side of the ice, the Canadiens rely quite heavily on Shea Weber, Ben Chariot, and Jeff Petry. Each member of the trio averaged over 23 minutes of ice time per game during the regular season. Brent Kulak was the only other Habs defenseman to average over 17 minutes per game, and he barely cleared it at 17:08.

Advantage: Penguins

Goaltending

Matt Murray has won two Stanley Cups, but struggled mightily at times this season. Luckily for the Penguins, Tristan Jarry stepped up big time. All of a sudden, the Pens have a very fascinating decision to make, not just in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, but this offseason as well.

It has been a while since Carey Price was the best goalie in the world, but teams are still afraid of him. In a five game series, if Price is on his game, he’s fully capable of stealing the series. Unlike the Pens, the Habs don’t have a viable option behind him.

Advantage: Penguins

Coaching

Mike Sullivan is for my money one of the top five coaches in the NHL. It can be difficult to manage so much talent, but Sullivan does a terrific job of it and helped the Penguins nearly be a top-four team in the East despite countless injuries.

Claude Julien has an impressive resume but hasn’t been able to have too much success as of late. This season is the first time his team has made the playoffs in a full season with Julien since 2013-14. Remember, he joined the Habs in February of 2017.

Advantage: Penguins

Special Teams

PIT: 19.91% PP, 82.11% PK

MON: 17.74% PP, 78.67% PK

Pittsburgh’s power play was uncharacteristically mediocre this season, ranking 16th in the league. Obviously, their injuries played a huge part in this. Given how outstanding Crosby and Malkin have been on the power play over the past three seasons, they deserve a pass for this season.

Advantage: Penguins

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