Blogs

Sergei Gonchar scored his second playoff goal, taking a feed from Brooks Orpik and firing a slap shot from the right point past Jaroslav Halak to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead over the Montreal Canadiens at 9:50 of the second period of Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal at Mellon Arena.

The second period has been a shootout. The Penguins started the second period at a disadvantage, with Chris Kunitz in the penalty box after a cross-checking penalty in the 20th minute of the first period of their Eastern Conference semifinal with Montreal.

Kris Letang scored his fourth goal in 11 playoff games on a power play to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead over the Montreal at 18:18 of the first period of Game 5 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series.

The Penguins are getting ready for the opening face-off of Game 5, and they will do so with forwards Bill Guerin and Mike Rupp – a pair with a powerful net-front presence – back in the lineup and disappointments Ruslan Fedotenko and Alexei Ponikarovsky as healthy scratches.

Behind third-period goals by Maxim Lapierre and Brian Gionta, the Montreal Canadiens defeated the Penguins, 3-2, in Game 4 on Thursday night at Bell Centre.

Bell Centre is rocking after Brian Gionta scored the go-ahead goal, shooting a puck that ricocheted off Penguins defenseman Kris Letang’s skate and skipped past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury at 3:40 of the third period.

Bell Centre is going crazy, as the Canadiens have tied it at 2-2 on a third-period goal by Maxim Lapierre.

After taking only three shots in the first period in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series against Montreal Tuesday night at Bell Centre the Penguins came out guns ablaze.

It took 41 minutes, 16 seconds for either team to score in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinal series at Bell Centre. In Game 4, neither team had to wait too long.

That wasn’t Superman skating with the Penguins. But here’s a warning from Trib beat writer Rob Rossi: Don’t tug on Jordan Staal’s sweater. The status of both Staal and winger Bill Guerin for Game 4 of their Eastern Conference semifinal series at Montreal remains undecided. If and when Staal returns, don’t be surprised if he’s [...]