Penguins vs. Canadiens: Will key players be missed?

There is a busy schedule this Tuesday night in the NHL with twelve games on the slate. The Montreal Canadiens are on the road as they travel to Pennsylvania to face the Pittsburgh Penguins. Both teams are missing important offensive players. Does this automatically mean that we can expect few goals?

Jarry second star of the week

The first association with the Pittsburgh Penguins has rightly been Sidney Crosby for years. The star player must lead his team to new success, but the center has been on the side line with a sports hernia for almost a month and his return is not expected until January. Besides Crosby, Patric Hornqvist has also had an injury for some time now and Evgeni Malkin already missed eleven games earlier this season, so head coach Mike Sullivan has faced quite a few setbacks in just over two months.

Despite all their injuries, the Penguins manage to hold their own in the Eastern Conference. The hockey team is currently fourth in the Metro Division. Pittsburgh scores an average of 3.43 goals per game and has a goals-against average 2.53 per game. In both categories, Pittsburgh only has to endure five teams. Matt Murray started the season as the first goalkeeper, but he has been disappointing more and more in recent weeks. Backup goalie Tristan Jarry recently recorded back-to-back shutout victories and was named the NHL's Second Star of the week.

Late winner in New York

Like all other teams in the NHL, the Montreal Canadiens' primary objective is to reach the Stanley Cup play offs. The Habs desire is probably only slightly greater than that of the vast majority of the NHL. The Canadiens missed out on the play offs last season, ending two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets, who got the second wildcard. The start of the new season was pretty good, but after injuries of Paul Byron and especially Jonathan Drouin, Montreal collapsed completely. They snapped their losing streak of eight games early December with a 4-2 victory against the New York Islanders.

The Canadians also recently suffered an injury from the talented Victor Mete. Head coach Claude Julien finally had some breathing room after a 2-1 win in New York against the Rangers. Just before the end of regulation time Nate Thompson gave his team two important points. Carey Price will start in goal tonight against the Pens. The goalie is having one of his least seasons of the past few years and the team will hope that he will soon return to his normal level.

Penguins win in their own barn

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens both face injuries from key players, but especially the Penguins perform just fine. Jarry is expected to start in goal tonight for Pittsburgh. He is currently riding a career-long shutout streak of 144:51 minutes. Pittsburgh is remarkably strong defensively this season. In the offense they can still count on Guentzel and Malkin, while Montreal has a hard time making a fist attack wise without Drouin, Byron and Mete.