Players to Watch: Game 2 vs. MTL

Here are your KeyBank Money Players to Watch and Starting Goaltenders for Game 2 of the Qualifying Round against the Montreal Canadiens.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Pittsburgh: Evgeni Malkin

Evgeni Malkin looked like he was shot out of a cannon at the beginning of Game 1, recording two shots on his first shift alone. He ended up with eight total in the game, along with two attempts that were blocked and six more that missed the net. It's great to see Malkin having that shoot-first mentality, and they're going to need more of that tonight, particularly on the power play.

Just three days removed from his 34th birthday, Malkin is showing no signs of slowing down. He was terrific all throughout training camp, and certainly had his moments in Game 1. Expect to see even more magic - or "fire," if you will - from Malkin in Game 2 as the Penguins look to even out the series. He's well-aware of the opportunity the Penguins have in front of them, and is hungry and motivated to take advantage of it.

Montreal: Shea Weber

The Canadiens captain logged a lotof ice time in Game 1. He finished with 31:35 minutes, which tied Kris Letang for the game-high. Weber played in all situations, particularly on special teams, and played a big role in shutting down Pittsburgh's power play. He was also a factor offensively with that booming slapshot of his.

The Penguins are looking to lessen Weber's impact in Game 2, as they want to make it harder on Montreal's top-three defensemen. His partner Ben Chiarot logged 28:50 minutes while Jeff Petry hit 30:56 minutes while scoring the overtime game-winner. "Their top-three D played a lot of minutes, so we can put more pucks behind them and make them break out the puck and just work extra hard to gain offensive territory," defenseman Brian Dumoulin said. We'll see if Weber is able to battle through that to still make an impact on the game.

STARTING GOALTENDERS

Pittsburgh: Matt Murray

Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan called Murray's performance "solid," as the Penguins netminder turned aside 32 of 35 shots. The 26-year-old didn't see a ton of action early on, but said he just tried to keep his mind clear and focus on the next shot. Murray got better and better at the game progressed, and came up with several key stops at crucial moments as the Penguins battled back to tie the score before eventually falling in overtime.

Murray can definitely build confidence from that performance, and the Penguins are going to need him to be at his best tonight as the margin for error is slimmer with this being a shorter series. Fortunately, that's exactly what the two-time Stanley Cup-winning goaltender tends to do when the stakes are high.

Montreal: Carey Price

Price was sensational on Saturday, stopping 39 of 41 shots in the game while facing seven Pittsburgh power plays - including a 5-on-3. But what was most impressive about the 32-year-old's play is how locked in he was from the drop of the puck.

The Penguins outshot the Canadiens 9-1 in the opening 10 minutes of play, and if they had been able to score there, the game could have gone much differently. Instead, Price withstood their barrage and kept his team in the game, paving the way for them to draw first blood.

"Carey was huge throughout that whole first period and gave us a chance to come back and kind of adjust ourselves there for the second," Montreal head coach Claude Julien said. "But he made some big saves throughout the whole game. The first period is where he allowed us to stay in the game and gave us a chance to win this."

It's going to be absolutely critical for the Penguins to crash Price's crease, take away his sightlines and make him as uncomfortable as possible in Game 2. They did that at times in Game 1, but not consistently enough. They need to make it a lot harder on him to find the puck.