The Habs powerless against the Pittsburgh Penguins

Today’s big news from the Montreal Canadiens is Colin White’s claim to the waivers, in turn sending Brandon Gignac to the ballot.

But the Tricolore was also playing a game on this Thursday night.

The Habs were trying to halt their three-game losing streak, as they visited the Pittsburgh Penguins.

In the Penguins’ case, they had just one win in their last six games, prior to tonight’s match.

Here’s the lineup the Habs were fielding for the showdown:

Martin St-Louis’ team got off to a good start, buzzing around the opposition’s territory.

So much so, that they already had 10 shots on net in the first eight minutes.

Pens defenseman Kris Letang created a turnover in the defensive zone and Mike Matheson intercepted the puck and unleashed a wrist shot past goaltender Tristan Jarry.

Matheson scored his eighth goal and 42nd point of the season against his former team.

Unfortunately, a few minutes after the Habs defenseman’s goal, Letang made up for it and brought everyone back to square one with a shot from the point.

The shot didn’t even appear to be on target at first, but Cayden Primeau redirected the shot into his net as he tried to block it with his shield.

With the score at 1-1, the two teams headed back to the locker room after the first period.

Once again, the second period got off to a strong start for the Tricolore, with a number of good scoring opportunities.

Some of these chances came on the power play, where the first wave of the massive attack controlled the puck in the offensive zone.

However, with just over eight minutes to go in the second period, Pittsburgh took the lead for the first time in the game thanks to a Brian Rust goal.

And Mike Sullivan’s team wouldn’t stop there.

Seconds after Rust’s goal, Drew O’Connor doubled the lead.

After 40 minutes of play, the score was now 3-1 in favor of the Penguins.

With just under nine minutes left to play in the third period, jitters gripped Canadiens fans as Jayden Struble left the ice and headed for the dressing room.

The sequence seemed rather innocuous, but he seems to have injured his groin, although I’m far from a doctor. I’m a bit worried about his Achilles heel too…

He had great difficulty retreating to the dressing room.

After withdrawing Primeau in favor of a sixth forward, Letang cleared the puck from deep in his own territory and confirmed his team’s victory with his second goal of the game.

The Tricolore lost 4-1.

Montreal’s next game is against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday afternoon.

Overtime

In contrast to his last few games, especially his last one, Arber Xhekaj had a tough game. He was responsible for several turnovers, some of which gave the Penguins scoring chances. If he wants to keep his place on the Habs defensive brigade, he’ll have to get his act together quickly. Especially with youngsters David Reinbacher and Lane Hutson likely to join the organization at the end of the season, either in Laval or Montreal.