NHL qualifying series‘ Pittsburgh Penguins Vs Montreal Canadiens. The winner will advance to the first round of the 2020 NHL Playoffs.
NHL Pittsburgh Penguins #5 Vs Montreal Canadiens #12 Overview
This will be the most one-sided qualifying series’. Come Saturday, the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins will square off against the lowly Montreal Canadiens. The Penguins finished the regular season with a record of 40-23-6 and 3rd place in the Metropolitan Division. The Canadiens had quite the contrasting year, finishing 5th in the Atlantic Division with a sub-average record of 31-31-9.
The Pittsburgh Penguins’ lineup will be packed with big names such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust. From a Canadiens perspective, Carey Price is back in the playoffs but this team has struggled in almost every statistical NHL category.
Pittsburgh Penguins Key Factors
The Penguins are the clear favorite in this series. With that said, the team does have some flaws. Specifically, the goaltending has been shaky. Golie Matt Murray hasn’t been himself for the last two seasons. Backup Tristan Jarry is young and lacks playoff experience. We are about a week out from game one and it is still unclear which of the two goalies the Penguins will suit up as the starter.
The key factor for the Penguins is fairy straight forward. Do not get too cocky while playing the Canadiens. Their is just to much talent on this team so look for them to get up on the Canadiens early and finish them off quick. Get going and move onto the second round as quickly as possible.
Montreal Canadiens Key Factors
If the Montreal Canadiens have any chance of unseating the Penguins in the qualifying round it can be described in two words… “Carey Price”. Price is the face of Montreal and he will need to be at his absolute best. He has been the catalyst in the past and he will be called upon once again. However do not hold your breath, the Canadiens defeating the Penguins would be a HUGE upset. An upset that would be bigger than the Blue Jackets sweeping the Lightning in the 2019 playoffs.
Aside from the goaltending story, the Canadiens will relay on Shea Weber, Tomas Tatar, Max Domi and Brendan Gallagher. The team has talent but do not feel they match up well against Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Penguins Vs Montreal Canadiens Series Prediction
I fully expect the Penguins to roll over the Canadiens with ease. Montreal will not win a game this playoffs, and therefore lets go with the Pittsburgh Penguins in three games.
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