MONTREAL -- The Montreal Canadiens cannot afford to relax if they want to take back control of their qualifying series against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The third game of the best-of-five series takes place tonight at Toronto's Scotiabank Arena. The series is tied 1-1.
The Penguins levelled the series with a 3-1 victory on Monday. In the contest, the Habs had their best moments in the third period. Head coach Claude Julien reiterated the importance of continued pressure from the puck drop.
"We're going to have to start the match on time," he said by videoconference on Wednesday noon. "In the last game, we started playing the way we wanted only from the third period."
Julien did not want to confirm if he was going to make any changes to his roster, simply indicating that decisions will be made just before the start of the game. Julien mentioned Tuesday, however, the possibility of modifying his trios.
For their part, the Penguins will want to continue playing aggressively, which led to success so far in the series. Although he won't have the advantage of the last change for the first time in the series, head coach Mike Sullivan will be ready to adjust to any confrontations Julien may favour.
"Our main focus is on our team and how we have to go about getting our way to go as quickly as possible," Sullivan said. "It's not that we don't care about the Canadiens. We respect the skills of this team. We will look at the matchups and try to adjust accordingly. '
This report by the Canadian Press was first published Aug. 5, 2020.
