NHL: Canadiens defeat Penguins 5-4 in overtime

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The Montreal Canadiens He came from behind twice in the third game to win 5-4 over Pittsburgh penguinsSaturday evening. Here is a summary of the game in five notes.

From hero to zero… to hero

Drawing a straight line requires two points, and the most optimistic among the optimists was convinced of that Mike Hoffman He was in an irresistible streak having netted three times in his last two matches. But hunt nature and you will quickly return with the mare …

The obscure striker did not stand out particularly during the first 60 minutes of the match, having only three shots on goal and providing little soft play along the slope during the numerical superiority, except that the part was lengthy and Hoffmann was able to forgive by completing the skillful staging of his teammate in the team Kirby Dash.

Hoffmann redirected behind Tristan Jarry a lofted pass from Dutch to score his first goal of the match since February 21. “It’s really fun to play hockey well,” the number 68 said after the match. We’ve upped our game over the past few weeks. »

dry end “long”

Start Cole Caufield He has not gone more than two games without scoring since the start of the season and it is clear that the American striker does not want to extend this poor streak.

Caufield was more active than in his previous two meetings by 6 shots and his efforts paid off. It would be totally unfair not to highlight teammate Kirby Dash’s contribution to the streak that led to his ninth goal of the season.

Dash was already able to block Tristan Jarry’s work and planted both feet in front of his half-circle. Even Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan thought the Canadian striker had been held back, but a video replay showed Dach was not wrong.

Notable return to Josh Anderson

Josh Anderson He’s back in the squad after serving a two-match suspension to sign Vegas Golden Knights star defender Alex Petrangelo last Saturday. It didn’t take long for the Canadian striker to shine by scoring the first goal of the match when exactly 108 seconds remained.

Winning his battle for possession of the slope, Anderson headed toward the center of the opposite blue line, then fired a low shot at the wrist that escaped the Penguins’ goalkeeper’s vigil. Tristan Garry. Everyone who has been looking for their direction since the start of the season finished a four-game streak without scoring.

Anderson, however, had an understated match after that, but he didn’t stand out for the wrong reasons either. “I’m getting more and more comfortable with the tweaks, but I’m working on it,” Wing explained. We have a good team and the guys are constantly pulling us in. We have a lot of personality. »

A little better for Petri

when Jeff Petri He met his former teammates for the first time on October 17, and had a complicated game by receiving three penalties, the last in overtime, allowing Kirby Dash to score the winning goal in Digital Supremacy.

Like all of his teammates, the American defender was going through an overly normal period Saturday night, only noticed by the boos heard at the heights of Bell Center as he grabbed the disc.

However, Petrie managed to shine early in the second half by scoring the equalizer after touching it in the direction of Jason Zucker’s blade Jake Evans’ wand and before finding himself behind Jake Allen. However, he was on the ice when Hoffman scored the winning goal. As for Ryan Boehling, who accompanied Petrie on the trade that sent him to Pittsburgh, it was 3 for 11 in the showdown circuit.

A similar scenario last year?

You don’t have to go back very far – last season to be exact – to find the Penguins with the record regular (.500) after 14 games as they did before tonight’s game. In 2021-2022, the team finally came together to finish the campaign with a record score of 0.628, thus qualifying for the playoffs for the 16th consecutive year.

Will the scenario be similar this season? It is obviously still too early to tell, but the difficulties facing the penguins can be explained by their inability to position their opponents in telegrams. After advancing twice, they allowed the two Canadians to quickly draw. The first, 50 seconds after Evgeni Malkni’s goal, and the second, just 40 seconds after Brock McGinn’s three-to-three goal.

Speaking of McGinn, the Penguins have won 14 of 15 games, including the last 13, he’s scored in since signing him as a free agent on July 28, 2021.