Halak, Habs turn away Penguins
Sidney Crosby showed his exasperation by slamming his stick against the net as the host Pittsburgh Penguins were turned aside again and again by Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak.
Turns out it’s not just Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals that the underdog Canadiens are capable of frustrating, tormenting — and beating.
Mike Cammalleri scored two more goals, Halak made 38 saves in a performance much like his series-stealing play during Montreal’s first-round upset of Washington and the Canadiens surprised the Penguins by winning 3-1 on Sunday.
Brian Gionta also scored as Montreal, playing without injured defenseman Andrei Markov, bounced back from a 6-3 loss in Game 1 and an early 1-0 deficit to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game each.
Suddenly, a series the Stanley Cup champion Penguins are heavily favored to win doesn’t look like a walkover after all.
“That’s what we wanted to do, a series like this, we wanted to get one (in Pittsburgh),” Scott Gomez said. “It’s far from over. But we came for one.”
And they got it. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Montreal, followed by Game 4 on Thursday.
“It’s nothing to get frustrated about,” Penguins forward Bill Guerin said. “We don’t have to go and reinvent the wheel. They’re a solid defensive team. They’re well coached, they know what they’re doing and you don’t want to get down to teams like that.”
Sharks 4, Red Wings 3: Joe Thornton scored his first goal of the playoffs with 7:23 left to give host San Jose a 2-0 lead over Detroit in the second-round series.
Joe Pavelski kept up his sizzling postseason for San Jose, scoring twice to push his NHL-high playoff total to nine and setting up Ryane Clowe’s between-the-legs score. Thornton then won it by ending his playoff drought.
Dany Heatley skated up ice on a 3-on-2 break and fired a slap shot at Jimmy Howard. Thornton beat Brian Rafalski to the rebound in the crease and poked in the winner. The series now shifts to Detroit for Games 3 and 4, starting Tuesday night.