If the Pittsburgh Penguins played the Montreal Canadiens 82 times in the regular season, they may go undefeated. Pittsburgh got the better of Montreal for the third time in 2024-25 on Thursday (Dec. 12) at the Bell Centre. This was their most emphatic demonstration yet, annihilating the Canadiens 9-2.
Early Goals and Hits Set the Tone
Ironically, the game’s start did not suggest a looming blowout. The first period was a brilliant demonstration of what can happen when two struggling teams go head to head to scrape away a couple of points in the standings.
Ever the Montreal standouts, Cole Caufield and Nick Suzuki turned terrific defence into offence 2:12 into the opening period. With the Penguins sharing the puck along the Canadiens’ blue line, Caufield intercepted an errant pass. He and Suzuki raced out together for an odd-man rush, with the American feeding his Canadian teammate just in the nick of time to cleverly slide the puck past Tristan Jarry.
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Pittsburgh was not intimidated, though. Upon benefiting from a power play, they cycled the puck nicely away from Montreal defenders until Kris Letang, close to the boards along the goal line, sent the disc into the slot where Rickard Rakell easily deflected it into the net to make it 1-1.
There was some entertaining physicality to the first 20 minutes as well, with Canadiens defender Arber Xhekaj sending Evgeni Malkin and Rakell flying to the ice on separate occasions.
No Rust in These Penguins
The game turned on its head in the middle period. The first shift came at 10:03 when Bryan Rust provided the visitors a 2-1 advantage. His marker had a bit of everything. It began by stealing the puck while Montreal attacked, Sidney Crosby sending a pass to Rust in the neutral zone, and the 32-year-old dancing around Mike Matheson and into Sam Montembeault’s crease to put home the puck.
Rust was far from done. He blasted home the biscuit from a sharp angle at 13:27 after the Penguins won a faceoff in the Canadiens’ zone. It put the visitors up 3-1.
Montreal had something to say about that at 14:36 when Joel Armia slammed home a one-timer off an Emil Heineman pass to halve the deficit.
Penguins Power Through the Third
The visitors blew the game wide open in the third period. A trio of goals was registered in a four-minute span that saw their precious 3-2 lead balloon to 6-2.
It began at 4:40 with Rakell, who scored one of the easiest goals of his career given that he was left alone in front of the goal for Rust’s pass. That, in effect, opened the proverbial floodgates. Letang added a power play marker at 7:42 with a shot from the left faceoff circle. Quebec native Anthony Beauvillier wanted some of the action and got it at 8:41 by tapping home the puck from in close.
Not to be forgotten, Rust then capped his evening with a hat trick goal at 11:56 to pad the lead to 7-2.
But wait, there was more! Pittsburgh executed a lovely odd-man rush where Matt Grzelcyk slipped a slick pass to Matt Nieto who tapped it in for an easy goal. 8-2. And since the Penguins were scoring for fun at that point, Noel Acciari got his name on the board at 18:42. By then, the result was academic. For those keeping count, make the final 9-2.
The Penguins get to spend Friday the 13th savouring this memorable win. They need to be in Ottawa on Saturday (Dec. 14) to play the Senators. The loss ends the Canadiens’ home stand on a sour note. They fly westward to Manitoba for a Saturday night matchup with the Winnipeg Jets.
