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The Penguins had Mellon Arena rocking by the end of the second period, and the way it ended was a promising sign for the third.

Jordan Staal kept the play alive in the Penguins’ end by digging a puck out of the back boards, then redirected an Alexei Ponikarovsky shot from center point to score his third playoff goal and make it 4-2 at 16:30 of the second.

The real assist on the Penguins’ first goal of this Game 7 against Montreal belongs to the official who got in front of Kris Letang’s shot on net, as it bounced off him and right in front of Chris Kunitz.

Michael Cammelleri scored his NHL-best 12th goal of the playoffs and seventh of the series to give the Canadiens a 3-0 lead over the Penguins at 3:32 of the second period.

Former Penguins center Dominic Moore — who scored the game-winning goal against the Washington Capitals in Game 7 of their first-round series — fired a shot from the top of the right circle to give the Canadiens a 2-0 lead over the Penguins.

The Penguins answered Montreal’s goal with one of the most putrid power-play performances we’ve seen in some time at Mellon Arena.

The Canadiens took an early 1-0 lead when Brian Gionta scored his sixth playoff goal by redirecting a backhand from the left circle by defenseman PK Subban.

The Penguins’ defense of their Stanley Cup championship comes down to this, a Game 7 against the Montreal Canadiens to determine who goes home and who advances to the Eastern Conference final.

The Penguins got goals from defensemen Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar and 59 minutes of shutout play by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to beat Montreal, 2-1, in Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal at Mellon Arena.

With a 2-0 lead and the Penguins on a power play, Evgeni Malkin made the mistake of taking a bad penalty when he reacted to a non-call by hitting Montreal defenseman Josh Gorges in the face.