QUICK ANALYSIS
This wasn’t the way it was supposed to go.

In what has proven to be the last game ever played at historic Mellon Arena, the Penguins dropped a 5-2 decision to the Montreal Canadiens and now their 2009 Stanley Cup title defense comes to an end.

Pittsburgh has plenty to look back on this season and be proud of, though. They finished the regular season with 101 points – breaking the 100-point barrier for the sixth time in club history and third time in the last four seasons.

Sidney Crosby claimed his first-ever Rocket Richard Trophy as the league’s goal scoring champion with 51 goals. Jordan Staal ran up his regular-season games played streak to 302 – second place in franchise history.

And the fans helped the team sell out the last 166 games in Mellon Arena’s existence – every regular-season and playoff game in the past three-plus seasons.

The Penguins came within one game of a third straight trip to the Eastern Conference Finals. And though they didn’t accomplish their goal, they can hold their heads high and be proud of their effort in a memorable season.

ESSENTIALS
What Went Well: Le Resistance
To say that the outcome looked gloomy after Pittsburgh feel behind 4-0 would be the understatement of the century. Despite the bleak circumstances, the Penguins never blinked, never lost hope and never gave up. Pittsburgh kept skating, working, moving their legs, hustling and managed to chip away at the lead. However, the hole was too deep to overcome.

What Could Have Gone Better: First Two Minutes
In true Murphy’s Law fashion, everything that could have gone wrong for the Penguins at the start of Game 7 did go wrong. Pittsburgh was penalized just 10 seconds into the contest. Montreal converted the opening goal 22 seconds later, and the Penguins were forced to kill a second two-minute penalty.

DIFFERENCE MAKER

The biggest difference maker in the most important game of the season was the Penguins fans. The sold out crowd of 17,132 – the 166th consecutive sell out – was loud, boisterous, cacophonous, energetic and supportive. The entire game they let out loud cheers of “Let’s Go Pens!”

Even when Pittsburgh fell behind 4-0, the fans got behind their team with cheers of encouragement. And even after the final buzzer, the fans gave the Penguins a standing ovation and continued their “Let’s Go Pens!” chants well after the team had left the ice for the locker room.

SCORING SYNOPSIS
The Penguins couldn’t have asked for a worst start to the game. Shorthanded just 10 seconds after the puck dropped, Montreal took advantage with a power-play goal 32 seconds into the opening frame. PK Subban had the puck in the near corner and his shot was re-directed by Brian Gionta and squeezed through Marc-Andre Fleury, who was tight to his post. Montreal 1, Pittsburgh 0.

The Canadiens added to their lead with five minutes left in the first period. Dominic Moore found a loose puck above the circles in the Penguins zone. He let go of a turning wrist shot that found its way into the goal. Montreal 2, Pittsburgh 0.

Montreal took a 3-0 lead on a beautiful tic-tac-toe passing display three minutes into the second period. Andrei Kostitsyn used a turnover to keep the puck in the offensive zone. The Penguins scrambled to get back into coverage. Mike Cammalleri ended up with the puck on his stick by the near circle and one-timed a shot into the top corner of the net. Montreal 3, Pittsburgh 0.

The Canadiens built a daunting lead with their fourth goal of the game while shorthanded. Travis Moen made a great play to get around a Penguins defender at the Pittsburgh blue line. He then re-collected the puck in the faceoff dot and lifted a shot into the far corner for the shorty. Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 0.

The Penguins finally broke through with a goal halfway into the second period. Kris Letang took a shot from the far corner that appeared to hit Jaroslav Halak’s pad and off the referee to the side of the net. Chris Kunitz alertly found the rubber and slid it under the pads of Halak. Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 1.

The Penguins cut into the lead with another tally with 3:30 remaining in the second frame. Pittsburgh did a great job following a power play of maintaining possession in the offensive zone. The team set up a shot from the midpoint by Alexei Ponikarovsky. Jordan Staal, camped in front of the net, re-directed the lot shot high into the twine. Montreal 4, Pittsburgh 2.

The Canadiens took an insurmountable lead with a man-advantage goal midway through the third period. Cammalleri had the puck to the left of the cage and made a cross-crease pass to Gionta, who swatted in his second score of the night. Montreal 5, Pittsburgh 2.

INTRIGUING NOTABLES

Goaltender Brent Johnson replaced Marc-Andre Fleury early in the first period. The veteran backup played brilliantly, making several key saves to give his team a chance to stage a surge. He started with a great glove save on Scott Gomez while facedown on the ice. Johnson followed that with a kick save on Tomas Plekanec on the doorstep.

Tyler Kennedy made a smart play late in the second period. After a post-whistle skirmish broke out behind the Montreal goal, Kennedy coaxed Mike Cammalleri to drop the gloves. Each received two-minute penalties and assured that the dangerous Cammalleri would not be on the ice for a short duration.

Pascal Dupuis also deserves credit for earning a Penguins’ power play with great hustle at the end of the second period. Dupuis raced to get a flip pass from Sidney Crosby. Then he beat the Canadiens defender to the puck in the corner. Josh Gorges took a cross-checking penalty on the play.

The Penguins tweaked their lineup for Game 7. Pittsburgh inserted winger Alexei Ponikarovsky, who skated with Evgeni Malkin and Bill Guerin. To make room, center Mark Letestu was a healthy scratch. Ponikarovsky recorded an assist in the contest.

GAME NOTES

> Scoring Summary:
MON, B.Gionta PP (6), 0:32 1st period: Canadiens 1, Penguins 0
MON, D.Moore (3), 14:23 1st period: Canadiens 2, Penguins 0
MON, M.Cammalleri (12), 3:32 2nd period: Canadiens 3, Penguins 0
MON, T.Moen SH (2), 5:14 2nd period: Canadiens 4, Penguins 0
PIT, C.Kunitz (4), 8:36 2nd period: Canadiens 4, Penguins 1
PIT, J.Staal (3), 16:30 2nd period: Canadiens 4, Penguins 2
MON, B.Gionta PP (7), 10:00 3rd period: Canadiens 5, Penguins 2

> Following Pittsburgh’s 5-2 defeat to the Montreal Canadiens, the team was eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since the 2008 Stanley Cup Final.

> Chris Kunitz notched his fourth goal of the postseason, a new single postseason career high.

> Jordan Staal tallied his third goal of the playoffs.

THREE STARS

1. J.Halak
2. B.Gionta
3. M.Cammalleri

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT
“There is no doubt if I had to go into a Game 7 I would pick every single guy in this dressing room.”
- Kris Letang

QUICK ANALYSIS
The Penguins put together their strongest 60-minute performance of the postseason against Montreal in Game 5. Pittsburgh perfectly executed in all facets of its game, particularly its work in the defensive zone, to pull out a crucial 2-1 win in a typical playoff grind-out game.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 of 33 shots, and was a fortress between the pipes for the Penguins. He made a strong save in the first two minutes on a point-blank shot by Mike Cammalleri. Fleury was also great at covering low shots during three penalty kill situations.

Pittsburgh’s defensemen – Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar – secured the two goals the team needed to win the game, and the entire team’s commitment to shutting down the Canadiens led to the monumental win.

The Penguins head back to Montreal for Game 6 with a chance to end this series on the road – something the team is comfortable doing considering they have clinched their last five postseason series in unfriendly environments.

QUICK ANALYSIS
Through 40 minutes it looked like the Penguins were going to put the Canadiens on the brink of extinction as Pittsburgh held a 2-1 lead and had outshot Montreal, 26-9.

The Penguins had showed tremendous character to that point, erasing a Montreal goal 2:26 into the game by scoring twice within the next 2:34 minutes on tallies by Maxime Talbot and Chris Kunitz to open the 2-1 lead.

Not only did the Penguins carry the play and have the lead after two periods, they had all but sucked the life out of both the Canadiens and the Bell Centre crowd – so it seemed.

With their season perhaps hanging in the balance the Canadiens came out like gangbusters in the final period, turning their 2-1 deficit into a 3-2 lead by the 3:40 mark on goals by Maxime Lapierre and Brian Gionta – the latter a fluke bounce off a Penguin in the slot. Jaroslav Halak did the rest from there, stopping all nine Pittsburgh shots, including an Evgeni Malkin breakaway late in the period.

The series now comes down to a best-of-three scenario, but the Penguins will hold the home-ice advantage with two of those contests at Mellon Arena, beginning with Game 5 on Saturday night. If the Penguins take care of business, they will still be advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals for the third consecutive season despite a heartbreaking finish on Thursday.

QUICK ANALYSIS
Game 3 unfolded exactly how a road game is supposed to unfold in the Stanley Cup playoffs – and the Penguins responded like the defending champions they are.

Pittsburgh had to weather an early storm as the Canadiens fed off their home crowd. Montreal outshot the Penguins, 7-3, in the opening frame, but one could argue that the Canadiens’ inability to capitalize on their momentum was the turning point in the game.

After the opening 20 minutes Pittsburgh took over just like they did in Game 2, outshooting the Canadiens over the final 40 minutes 21-11. However, as Pittsburgh owned the second period, holding a 13-3 shots advantage, Jaroslav Halak was again proving to be a brick wall in goal for Montreal.

Pittsburgh never got frustrated by their lack of scoring and instead kept plugging away, taking the lead for good 1:16 into the third period on an Evgeni Malkin power-play tally. Marc-Andre Fleury took over from there, stopping all eight shots he saw in the final frame, including three 10-bellers down the stretch, as he picked up his fourth career shutout. Pascal Dupuis added a late empty-net goal.

The Penguins will have a chance to take a commanding 3-1 lead in the series when Game 4 commences at 7 p.m. on Thursday night. Pittsburgh is now 4-0 on the road during the 2010 postseason while Montreal is just 1-3 at Bell Centre.

QUICK ANALYSIS
The Penguins now understand how frustrating the Canadiens can be to play against in the postseason. Pittsburgh controlled the play and dictated the game, but still came up on the losing end thanks to some spectacular netminding by Jaroslav Halak and some unfortunate bounces.

The Penguins played the majority of the game in the Montreal zone, including a five-minute stretch in the second period where they had long stretches of sustained pressure. Pittsburgh also outshot the Habs by a 39-21 count. In fact, Pittsburgh nearly had as many shots in the second period (18) than Montreal had all game.

The Canadiens may have won this battle, but if Pittsburgh keeps playing the way it has in the first two contests then the Penguins should ultimately win the war. They did all the right things. Now it’s a matter of sticking to their game plan. If the Penguins keep executing the way they have then eventually the pucks will go in, and they’ll end up on the winning side.