PITTSBURGH — The Canadiens didn’t look good in the first period of Tuesday night’s game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, but coach Claude Julien said he wasn’t overly concerned.
“I kind of anticipated we would be a little bit rusty, but the first period was over and we were only down by one goal,” Julien said after the Canadiens defeated the Penguins 4-1 at PPG Paints Arena. “We knew we needed to pick up our game. I thought our passes were off and we weren’t creating much on the offensive side of things, but we came out and played a solid second. I thought we played a smart third period and didn’t give them a ton of chances. We did a good job backchecking and breaking up plays and then we sealed the deal in the third.”
The Canadiens scored three goals in the second with Tomas Tatar scoring on a power play; Joel Armia taking advantage of a Kris Letang turnover and Shea Weber connecting on an eye-opening wraparound goal.
Julien said Weber’s goal with 14.5 seconds remaining in the second period gave the Canadiens a huge lift — a two-goal lead going into the third.
When asked whether it was his first wraparound goal, Weber said: “Since I played NHL 95, probably.”
“I thought we had our legs in the first period, but we were really rusty,” Weber said. “We were getting rid of the puck and we weren’t aware of what was around us. That’s natural when you’ve had a few days off, but we made a point of it (after the first period) and we had a pretty good second period and took control of the game.”
Tatar and Armia both downplayed their goals.
“I didn’t do what I wanted,” said Tatar, who converted a pass from Brendan Gallagher. “I got the puck on the heel of my stick and I got lucky when it went in.”
It appeared Armia might have gone short side on Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry to elude a defenceman, but he said he simply wanted to shoot quickly.
“It all happened so fast that I just tried to get the puck high and it was a good thing it worked,” Armia said.
Carey Price made 33 saves and has allowed only one goal in each of his last two games.
“He’s always been like that, forever,” Julien said. “When Carey’s solid and making big plays and he’s calm and making it look easy, it helps the confidence of the players in front of him.”
The coach showed confidence in his young defencemen. Otto Leskinen played a season-high 12:03 and played a regular shift in the third period. Brett Kulak topped 20 minutes, while iron man Ben Chiarot was the only defenceman who played more than 23 minutes.
During an extended Pittsburgh shift in the third period, rookies Cale Fleury, Nick Suzuki and Leskinen took turns making big plays on defence.
“It’s a sign of commitment but it’s also a sign of those guys gaining some experience and being able to handle those situations better,” Julien said. “As long as guys are doing the right things, there’s no reason to hold them back or sit them on the bench. We used Leskinen more tonight. He was out there in the third because he played a solid game. If we’re gonna have those young players come in and help us out, we have to at least have confidence in them.”
Julien said spreading the workload will help the Canadiens when they play Wednesday at home.
“Any time you have a back-to-back game, the last thing you want to do is shorten your bench,” Julien said. “When you have everyone going, it’s the best situation you can have so you don’t over-utilize certain players”
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