Three Takeaways From Penguins Big Win Over Canadiens

For the second time this season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have won two games in a row, edging the Montreal Canadiens, 3-1, on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena.

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Led by Sidney Crosby’s two goals, his fourth goal in four periods, the Penguins built up an early 2-0 lead. They played conservative hockey the rest of the night, riding Alex Nedeljkovic to one of his best performances in the early season.

Related: Sidney Crosby Career Goal Tracker: How Close Is The Penguins Captain To 600 Goals

After an overtime win against Anaheim on Thursday, the Penguins went 2-0-0 on their mini homestand. Let’s discuss a few things that went right on Saturday evening.

The Goalie Controvesary is Over…For Now

After rotating goalies, trying to stop the bleeding as the Penguins plummeted to the bottom of the league standings regarding goals against, head coach Mike Sullivan finally let Nedeljkovic play in consecutive games.

In the past six periods, he’s given up just two goals, providing Pittsburgh with their best goaltending stretch thus far in 2024-25. As mentioned in a previous article, it was time that Sullivan let one goalie take the reigns and ride it until a disastrous performance.

It’s almost impossible to get into a rhythm without consistent playing time. Hopefully, the Penguins can get more standout performances from Nedeljkovic over the next stretch of games.

Crosby is Just Getting Started

On the cusp of netting his 600th goal, the Penguins captain got off to a slow start lighting the lamp, with just one goal through the 11 games. However, since the beginning of the Ducks game on Thursday, he’s now responsible for four of the Penguins’ last five goals, a streak broken up by Blake Lizotte’s empty net goal.

With four points in the past two games, Crosby is now tied with Evgeni Malkin as the Penguins’ leading scorer with 14 points. For a future Hall of Famer who already collected his 1,600th point, getting closer to his next milestone is now just a matter of games, not weeks.

Penguins Salvaging Sullivan’s Career

About a week ago, the fan base couldn’t help but discuss Sullivan’s future as the Penguins’ head coach. Now, with back-to-back wins, the narrative has switched to how great Crosby and Nedeljkovic are playing, and no one is calling for a coaching change…yet.

Let’s not forget that Pittsburgh just got embarrassed on a four-game road trip and came home to face two non-contending teams, the Ducks and Canadiens, with another easy opponent in the Islanders lined up for Tuesday.

However, once the Penguins leave Long Island, they will face a gauntlet of top-tier teams, including Carolina, Washington, and Dallas. Even though they secured four points in the past two games, these weren’t dominant performances, and the club was lucky to walk away from the Ducks game with a win.

Related: Penguins Worth $1.47 Billion According To Sportico

So, although the conversation has died down, it’s far from over, and the topic is bound to come up again when the Penguins won’t be as lucky.

Penguins & Canadiens Trivia Answers

How did you score in our Game Day Trivia quiz? Here are the answers.

1. Evgeni Malkin

2. Sidney Crosby, Jaromir Jagr (now Crosby is alone with six)

3. Jock Callander

4. Marc-Andre Fleury

5. Craig Simpson

6. Les Binkley

7. Jean Pronovost

8. Mario Lemieux

9. Mark Reechi

10. Lyle Odelein

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