At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

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In their season-opening games Columbus Blue Jackets T-Shirts Authentic , the Pittsburgh Penguins won in overtime but thought there was a fair amount of room for improvement and the Montreal Canadiens lost in overtime but were encouraged by what they thought was a strong performance.That sets an interesting stage for the matchup on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.“I’m disappointed in the loss — you always think you could have, should have won the game — but I’m not disappointed in the effort we put out,” Montreal coach Claude Julien said of a 3-2 loss to Toronto.Article continues below ...“If we keep putting out the same effort and improve in certain areas where we didn’t do as well, there’s no doubt that if we play as well as we did, we’re going to give ourselves a chance every night.”Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan put his club’s chances a little lower in a similar scenario after a last-one-out-turn-off-the-lights 7-6 win over defending Stanley Cup champion Washington.“We were pleased with the results of the game, but if we played that game 10 times over, we’d win five and lose five,” Sullivan said of trading chances at a rapid rate. “That’s not a formula for success.”Pittsburgh swept all three games against the Canadiens last season, scoring five goals in each game.While the Penguins retain a core of players and a high-paced philosophy that helped them win the Stanley Cup in 2016 and ’17, the Canadiens are looking for a new direction.Against the Maple Leafs, the Canadiens made veterans Tomas Plekanec and Carl Alzner healthy scratches in favor of a younger, speedy lineup. That included Jesperi Kotkaniemi, an 18-year-old center who made his NHL debut and played 15 minutes.“I don’t think he looked out of place Columbus Blue Jackets Hoodies Authentic ,” Julien said of Kotkaniemi. “If you want to win hockey games, you have to put players on the ice who are capable of making plays, and he’s one of them.”Not to mention players with wheels.“We used that speed, especially on the forecheck, to take time and speed away from (Toronto),” Canadiens goaltender Carey Price said, according to the Montreal Gazette.Pittsburgh is expecting more of the same from the Canadiens.“They’re going to be a young, fast team, and those are teams that you can get trapped with,” Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. “You can take them lightly and get into a track meet and they can end up beating you. They’re definitely a team we’re not taking lightly. They had a great game against Toronto.“It’s a speed game right now. If you can’t adapt to that style, you’re going to have a tough time playing (against them). You’ve always got to be aware of speed.”The Penguins should know. That’s the style they play, and it could be argued they started the trend that a lot of teams are following.They find themselves trying the same tactics — taking away shooting lanes, playing in opponents’ faces — that teams have been trying to use against them.“We see it Columbus Blue Jackets Hats Authentic , too, and it’s frustrating,” Dumoulin said. “But I think a lot of teams are going with that style.” TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Pekka Rinne didn’t miss a beat after being sidelined for two weeks.He made 42 saves after sitting out five games with an injury, and the Nashville Predators beat the Tampa Bay Lightning 4-1 on Thursday night.“Anytime you miss time, you’re a little nervous,” Rinne said. “I was happy that we played one of the top teams. You have to have a mindset that you might be busy. I felt good, and obviously very happy with the win.”Rinne was hurt in the third period of a 5-3 victory at Calgary on Oct. 19. He was stretching to try and stop the puck when teammate Kevin Fiala landed on top of the goalie in an awkward-looking collision.Kyle Turris, Roman Josi, Calle Jarnkrok and Miikka Salomaki scored, and Ryan Johansen had two nifty assists for the Predators. Right wing Viktor Arvidsson, who has eight goals and 12 points, was a late scratch due to a lower-body injury and is day to day.The Predators reached 10 wins in 13 games Custom Columbus Blue Jackets Jerseys , the fastest in franchise history. The previous mark was 15 games, done three times.Nashville (6-0-0) became the fifth team in NHL history to start a season with six or more consecutive road wins.Tampa Bay got a goal from Slater Koekkoek, and Andrei Vasilevskiy stopped 20 shots. Nashville is the only opponent Vasilevskiy (0-3-1) has never beaten.“We had our chances,” Lightning coach Jon Cooper said.Rinne made an outstanding save four minutes into the game when he lifted his right pad while lunging to the right and stopped Brayden Point’s rebound shot.“He looked really sharp to me,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “He was brilliant. He needed to be — they’re a dangerous team.”Rinne has 315 NHL wins and is four short of tying Miikka Kiprusoff for the most by a Finnish-born player.Turris opened the scoring at 6:02 of the first before Josi made it 2-0 with 6.4 seconds left in the period off a backhand pass through the crease by Johansen.“It was pretty unreal,” Rinne said of Johansen’s pass from near the left-wing boards. “A beautiful goal. It was pretty cool to see in a game.”Koekkoek snapped a 16-game goal drought and cut the deficit to 2-1 from the left circle at 14:21 of the second.Tampa Bay outshot the Predators 17-4 in the period.“The ice was lopsided at that point,” Laviolette said.Johansen made another backhand pass to set up Jarnkrok’s goal with 3:18 to play.“They made us pay for the looks that we gave them,” Lightning defenseman Ryan McDonagh said.Salomaki added an empty-netter.Nashville has earned a point in 13 of its last 14 games (11-1-2) against the Lightning.NOTES: Tampa Bay D Victor Hedman (shoulder) sat out his third straight game and could miss games at Montreal and Ottawa this weekend. LW Ondrej Palat (foot) also was sidelined for the third consecutive game. … Nashville LW Zac Rinaldo (lower body) didn’t play. … Laviolette coached his 1,100th NHL game.UP NEXTPredators: Host the Boston Bruins on Saturday night.Lightning: At the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.
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