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This is not how the Penguins usually expect to score goals.
Or even how they want to most of the time, for that matter.
After all, that is why they keep high-priced talent such as Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin on the payroll.
But Montreal has made a point of sealing off the area around its net during its second-round playoff series against the Penguins, which means Penguins forwards rarely have had room to breathe, let alone get off an uncontested shot on goal.
The antidote -- or, more to the point, the only recourse -- to the Canadiens' strategy is to attack from the outside, and the Penguins did that well in their 2-1 victory Saturday night at Mellon Arena in Game 5.
Defensemen Kris Letang and Sergei Gonchar got their goals, both on long-distance shots that found their way through screens and eluded Canadiens goalie Jaroslav Halak.
"They've really jammed in the slot, so it's tough to get our shots through," Letang said. "But we found a way tonight."
• Next game: Penguins at Canadiens in Game 6, 7:08 p.m. Monday at Bell Centre.
• TV: FSN Pittsburgh.
The Penguins lead the series, 3-2, and will have a chance to secure a berth in the Eastern Conference final for the third year in a row if they can beat the Canadiens in Game 6 at 7:15 p.m. Monday at the Bell Centre.
Whether Montreal will have defenseman Hal Gill, who has hounded Crosby in the series, remains to be seen. He left Game 5 with an unspecified injury, and Canadiens coach Jacques Martin said his condition will be re-evaluated today.
Game 7, if necessary, will be Wednesday at 7:15 p.m. at Mellon Arena.
The chances of a seventh game being required will drop considerably if Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury can replicate his Game 5 performance Monday.
He lost his shutout with 29.7 seconds left in regulation, when Mike Cammalleri scored on a shot that squirted between Fleury's legs, but still finished with 32 saves.
It was evident from the earliest shifts, when he denied Cammalleri on a shot from about 15 feet in the slot 80 seconds after the opening faceoff, that Fleury was on his game, and nothing happened over the course of the evening to change that.
"He played great," Crosby said. "[Fleury] made some big saves throughout the whole game. You need that at this time of year."
It was particularly significant Saturday night, because the Canadiens were more assertive offensively than they had been in any of the previous four games.
Having to play from behind for most of the evening might have had something to do with that, but even before the Penguins got a lead, Montreal was being bolder than there had been any reason to expect.
"They were more aggressive offensively," Letang said. "They played really well."
Wingers Bill Guerin and Mike Rupp returned to the Penguins' lineup, replacing Alexei Ponikarovsky and Ruslan Fedotenko, and both helped to make a goal possible by setting effective screens.
"When you have a goaltender who's playing [the way Halak is], you need to get people there," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said. "That's an indication of how we need to score goals."
PDFIn Game 5, those shots by Letang and Gonchar reached the back of the net, but simply getting them to Halak could have led to scoring opportunities for their teammates.
"Maybe it won't always find its way into the net, but we're going to generate second and third opportunities with that," Crosby said. "They found a way to get their shots through, and guys found a way to get position in front."
The Penguins got the only goal of the opening period when Letang drove a slap shot past Halak, who was being screened by Guerin, on a power play at 18:18. The goal came after Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges was sent off for cross-checking at 17:15.
Letang's goal inspired the loudest applause of the first 20 minutes, of course, but the crowd also roared its approval when Crosby drove his right shoulder into Gill at 14:22, knocking him to the ice.
The Penguins got the winner at 9:50 of the second, when Gonchar one-timed a cross-ice feed from Brooks Orpik past Halak from the right point.
And so they have regained the upper hand in the series, but understand the threat the Canadiens continue to pose heading into Game 6.
"They played a pretty complete game," Rupp said. "I don't expect anything different in Montreal."
Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
