From nhl.com's game previews
Penguins seek some revenge vs. Canadiens
http://www.nhl.com/ice/preview.htm?id=2010020016&navid=sb:preview
CANADIENS (0-1-0) at PENGUINS (0-1-0)
TV -- CBC (HD), RDS (HD), FS-Pittsburgh (HD)
Season series -- This is the first of four games between the two teams. The Penguins won the first three meetings last season, but the Canadiens had the final word, taking the final regular-season game and defeating Pittsburgh in seven games in the second round of the playoffs.
Big story -- Both teams dropped their season-openers by losing 3-2 to a close rival -- Montreal to Toronto and Pittsburgh to Philadelphia. This is also the teams' first meeting since the Canadiens eliminated the Penguins in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, ending Pittsburgh's hopes of repeating as Stanley Cup champions.
Team Scope:
Penguins -- Pittsburgh's debut at the new Consol Energy Center was spoiled by the Flyers and rookie goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky in a 3-2 defeat. In his first NHL game, Bobrovsky made 29 saves and kept the Penguins' big scorers at bay. Tyler Kennedy scored at the beginning of the third period, while Alex Goligoski added a power-play tally. Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves in his first game since that Game 7 loss to the Canadiens.
"It's a game of execution. We did some good things, but it's the first game of the season so there's going to be mistakes," Sidney Crosby told the Penguins' website. "And there were mistakes on both sides. We hit like three or four posts and we had a great start, but we couldn't put the puck in the net. But that's hockey. That's how it goes sometimes."
Canadiens -- The Habs will be glad to have Mike Cammalleri back in the lineup -- he sat out Thursday's loss at Toronto after being suspended one game for his preseason slash on the Islanders' Nino Niederreiter. The Habs seemed to have trouble solving the Maple Leafs on Thursday without their playoff leading scorer and two of their top two defensemen, Andrei Markov and Roman Hamrlik, who are out with injuries.
Dustin Boyd and Jeff Halpern, newcomers to Montreal this season, scored for the Habs' in their 3-2 loss. Carey Price gave up two goals on the first six shots, but was solid the rest of the way, finishing the night with 24 saves.
"I was glad to chip in with that goal but we need to be better," Halpern told Canadiens.com. "It felt like we were swimming out there at times."
Who's hot -- Boyd had a great debut in a Habs uniform. The forward had a goal and three shots against Toronto.
Mike Comrie led the Pens with 19 shots on goals in four games during the preseason and continued with this pattern on Thursday with another four shots.
Injury report -- Hamrlik is recovering nicely form his knee injury, but won't be ready for Saturday. Markov is expected to return this month from his right ACL surgery, which he injured during the playoff series with the Penguins.
The Penguins are without Jordan Staal (right foot surgery/infection). Staal initially injured his foot in Game 1 of the Habs-Pens playoff series, but returned by series end to have to have the foot become infected over the summer.
Stat pack -- Cammalleri had 7 goals and 1 assist against the Penguins in last year's playoff series.
Puck drop -- "This new building is just unbelievable. Even our visiting dressing room is amazing. There's nothing like this anywhere in the league. We obviously have some pretty awesome memories of Mellon Arena from the playoffs and winning that Game 7 there, but now we'll just have make some new ones starting this weekend." --Tom Pyatt to Canadiens.com on playing at the new Consol Energy Center
