Round 2, Game 2: Canadiens pull even vs. Pens

Canadiens’ Brian Gionta sees his deflection stopped by Penguins goalie Marc-André Fleury Sunday afternoon. John Mahoney, The Gazette

Preview | Matchups | Sunday’s NHL schedule | Boone’s Game Blog and About last night … | Stubbs on Twitter | Hickey’s game story | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

AUDIO: Jacques Martin | Jaro Halak I and II | Mike Cammalleri I and II | Brian Gionta I and II | Scott Gomez I and II | Marc-André Bergeron | Hal Gill | Tomas Plekanec | P.K. Subban | Dan Bylsma

At a glance: Michael Cammalleri’s seventh and eighth goals of the postseason were the difference Sunday in a game the Pittsburgh Penguins dominated for most of the afternoon. But Cammalleri’s power-play goal in the second period proved to be the difference in a 2-1 win the Canadiens can thank Jaroslav Halak for this win as he stopped all but one of the 39 shots he faced.

After outshooting the Penguins 12-9 in the first period, the Canadiens mustered only 8 shots on Marc-André Fleury over the final 40 minutes.
But Fleury allowed a pair of goals on those shots, both by Cammalleri, while
Halak stopped all 30 shots he faced after the first period.

The Penguins opened the scoring when Matt Cooke took a nice pass from Max Talbot and deked Jaroslav Halak, slipping the puck between Halak’s legs 4:38 into the game.

Brian Gionta tied the score 1-1 15:48 into the first period after accepting a feed from Scott Gomez from behind the net to beat Marc-André Fleury with a quick shot.

Cammalleri’s first goal came on the power-play 7:27 into the second period, with P.K. Subban collecting an assist on the play, his third point of
the postseason.

Cammaleri gave the Canadiens a two-goal cushion with less than three minutes to play when he was sent in alone on Fleury, beating him over the glove with a wrist shot.

What it means: The Canadiens have pulled even with the Penguins in the series at 1-1.

What’s next: Game 3 will be Tuesday night at the Bell Centre in Montreal, with Game 4 on Thursday night.