The Pittsburgh Penguins face the Montreal Canadiens with both teams looking to improve from rough starts to the season. The Penguins have a 5-6-2 record while the Canadiens have a 7-6-1 but with back-to-back wins have slowly gained ground in the Atlantic Division. Both teams are looking to improve in their divisions and the Eastern Conference and the upcoming game should be a good one as a result.
The Penguins are off to a rough start to the season despite their offense stepping up and scoring 3.54 goals per game. Sidney Crosby, Bryan Rust, and Jake Guentzel have scored 17 goals and 18 assists to lead the top line but the rest of the offense has also looked great. Evgeni Malkin, Jason Zucker, and Rickard Rakell have combined for 13 goals and 16 assists while defenseman Kris Letang is adding eight assists from the point to help open up the offense.
The offense has looked great but the defense has let the Penguins down to start the season, allowing 3.46 goals per game. While Marcus Pettersson and Jan Rutta have combined for 1.6 defensive point shares, the rest of the unit has struggled, allowing opponents to carry the puck into the offensive zone and create open shots on the net. The bright spot has been the play of goaltender Casey DeSmith who has a .913 save percentage and a 2.80 goals-a gainst average on 160 shots.