Game Photos: Pens vs Habs 1/20/2012

The Penguins looked to extend their winning streak to five games Friday night against an old nemesis. It didn't matter that they had already beaten the Canadiens twice this season, Montreal always seems to give Pittsburgh trouble. Check out our photos and video after the jump.

Hal Gill. What a large human.

Let's go ahead and get this out of the way. This game marked Kris Letang's first game back at CEC since missing significant time due to a concussion. It also happened to be against the team that gave him said concussion. The team, the fans and my camera have all missed Tanger very much. This post isn't so much a game photos recap as it is a Letang photos recap. Deal with it.

Meanwhile, Brooks Orpik was keeping a suspicious eye on PK Subban and his shady band of pranksters on the Habs side of the ice.

A happy Geno makes for a happy Pittsburgh.

Anthems.

Montreal wasted no time, scoring just 34 seconds into the game. Any illusions we may have had about an easy Pens victory over a slumping Habs team went right out the window. This one was going to be a dogfight.

Early deficits aside, there was some old business to attend to. Max Pacioretty would have to answer the bell for laying the hit on Letang that had him out of the lineup for 21 games.

Not sure what Geno said to Letang here but it must have been pretty good.

Tanger came out of that discussion looking fired up.


He went on to score a sweet goal that tied the game at 1-1.





Hal Gill and his troops were far from done in this one as they would reclaim the lead less than two minutes later.

The Canadiens had added another goal just over a minute into the second period. Dustin Jeffrey answered back with a shorthanded goal to cut the lead back to one goal.

Don't worry, Budaj. It's not over yet.

For now, Budaj keeps the game 3-2 with some more good saves in the second. Eventually Pacioretty's goal midway through the period would make it 4-2 heading into the third.

DJ Jazzy Jeffrey capped off the first three-point game of his career with a snipe that would make Bob Lee Swagger proud.

Fleury was having a tough game early on. In typical Pens fashion they weren't giving up very many shots. Unfortunately, the chances that they did allow were quite good and Flower paid the price. He put things in lockdown mode after the Pacioretty goal, keeping the Habs scoreless through the last 29:26 of regulation.















The Pens had seen some good third period chances go by the wayside. Time was running short and they looked to their leader to carry them to victory. Geno did not disappoint.



Malkin's BLAST tied the game. He pounded his gloves on the glass, sending an already insane CEC crowd into a total frenzy.

Time to tighten up the skate laces, we're headed for overtime.



Neither team scored in the five minute extra session. This one was going to the shootout.

What a game, particularly considering the effort from the Pens playing the second of back-to-back games. No rest for the weary, though, as they look forward to a 12:30 start Sunday against the Caps. We'll be there, so there'll be more photos and video on the way after that one.