Penguins cruise past Canadiens

[January 19, 2017]  MONTREAL -- After a wild night in their last outing against the Washington Capitals, the Pittsburgh Penguins kept the puck out of their net while keeping the offense going in a 4-1 win against the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night at the Bell Centre.

"It's been one of the more controlled games, I thought," said Penguins coach Mike Sullivan, whose team slipped past the Capitals 8-7 in overtime Monday.

"We had some pretty good structure. I thought we did a pretty good job limiting their speed coming through the neutral zone, for the most part, we made pretty good decisions with the puck, forcing them to have to play 200 feet, and I thought we got a pretty solid team effort, and we got contributions throughout our lineup."

Ian Cole, Eric Fehr, Jake Guentzel and Olli Maatta provided the scoring for Pittsburgh, whose big three of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel were limited to one assist (Malkin), two shots on goal, and four shot attempts total.

Matt Murray stopped 19 shots for Pittsburgh (28-11-5), marking the first time since Nov. 23 that the team held its opponent to 20 shots on goal or fewer.

Sven Andrighetto scored for the Canadiens, who were shut out 1-0 in Detroit on Monday. They are struggling to get pucks to the net, managing just 38 shots in the past two games combined.

"We've got to find ways to generate offense," captain Max Pacioretty said. "It hasn't been there the last two games. Not sure why. We have to feel confident with the puck, make plays when they're there. Seems like we're not making those plays, and the result is not getting many opportunities."

The Canadiens (27-13-6) had a chance early on to get on the board when Phillip Danault sent a pass towards Andrew Shaw, but Murray quickly slid across to make the save.

Cole got the scoring started at 14:52 of the first period. Malkin drove up the right side and showed patience before feeding Cole streaking in on the left side. Cole beat a screened Price with a shot from the left circle.

"It's a great play from Geno (Malkin) to see me coming in late, great net drive by Horny (Patric Hornqvist) and Haggy (Carl Hagelin)," Cole said. "I had good traffic and was able to put it short side."

Conor Sheary had a chance to put Pittsburgh up by a pair when he held off Shea Weber, but Price denied him with a quick glove save.

Fehr, drawing in for injured center Matt Cullen after sitting the previous three games as a healthy scratch, made it 2-0 at 5:19 of the second period. The Canadiens, who often had trouble clearing their zone on the night, left Fehr unattended in the slot for his sixth of the season.

Guentzel made it 3-0 Penguins with a perfect tip of Cameron Gaunce point shot through traffic at 17:38.

Penguins right wing Bryan Rust (17) plays the puck against Montreal Canadiens during the third period at Bell Centre. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

However, the Canadiens got one right back, courtesy of Andrighetto. Defenseman Alexei Emelin found the Swiss winger behind the net, and Andrighetto moved quickly on a wraparound to beat Murray along the ice, glove side at 18:11.

The goal was Montreal's 11,600th at home in the NHL.

The Canadiens struggled to generate much offensively in the second, leading coach Michel Therrien to juggle a pair of his lines, recreating some lines that had some success in the past. Max Pacioretty joined Danault and Shaw while Paul Byron moved up to a line with Alex Galchenyuk and Alexander Radulov.

Maatta made it 4-1 Pittsburgh when he fired a shot from the high slot at 15:36 of the third period.

Carey Price made 22 saves for the Canadiens, who have allowed 30 goals in the past seven games.

"It's something that we need to take a look at and clean up," Montreal defenseman Jeff Petry said. "It's a fine line to push to score goals, but we can't do it on the account of having it hurt our defensive game. That's something that we've done, and it's something we need to clean up."

NOTES: LW/RW Brian Flynn played his 100th game with the Canadiens. ... The Penguins were without C Matt Cullen for the first time in 150 games. The team announced Tuesday that the veteran pivot was out for three to four weeks after taking a shot off the foot in the Monday game against Washington. ... The Wednesday game was the third and final meeting between the teams this season, and marked the third different goaltending matchup between the clubs. ... The Canadiens scratched LW Daniel Carr and D Ryan Johnston. ... Pittsburgh scratched RW Tom Kuhnhackl and D Steve Oleksy.

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