Players to Watch: Game 4 vs. MTL

Here are your KeyBank Money Players to Watch and Starting Goaltenders for Game 4 of the Qualifying Round against the Montreal Canadiens.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Pittsburgh: Bryan Rust

This is the type of situation where the Penguins winger tends to thrive. Since entering the league, Rust has scored 10 goals in 19 career elimination games (contests where the Penguins could clinch a series OR faced elimination).

Rust enters today's game with points in all three contests of the series thus far, one shy of equaling his career-long four-game point streak set from May 22-30, 2016 (4G-1A). He scored a power-play goal in Game 1, set up Jake Guentzel for an empty-netter in Game 2 and gave Jason Zucker a nice feed on the man-advantage in Game 3.

Rust's line with Zucker and Evgeni Malkin wants to be more of a factor 5-on-5, as the Canadiens have done a good job of shutting them down in that area of the game up to this point. Rust was the Penguins' goal-scoring leader during the regular season, with a career-high 27 tallies in just 55 games, so hopefully he can bring some of that scoring touch this afternoon.

Montreal: Jeff Petry

The Canadiens defenseman is having a brilliant series, to say the least. After scoring the overtime winner in Game 1, Petry netted the game-winner early in the third period of Game 3 when he roofed a sharp-angle shot from the goal line.

Petry became the seventh defenseman in NHL history - and fourth in the modern era (since 1943-44) - to score two game-winning goals through his team's first three contests in a postseason. He also became the fourth defenseman in Canadiens franchise history to score two game-winning goals in a single postseason series, and the first to have multiple game winning goals in a single postseason since Chris Chelios over 31 years ago in 1989.

The 32-year-old also got an assist in Game 2 to give him points in all three contests thus far. And not only is he contributing offensively; defensively he's logging a lot of minutes and helping to keep the Penguins' best players off the scoresheet at even-strength. The Penguins have to make sure Petry is less of a factor in Game 4.

STARTING GOALTENDERS

Pittsburgh: Tristan Jarry

The Penguins are turning to an NHL All-Star between the pipes for Game 4, as Tristan Jarry will make his NHL playoff debut this afternoon. It's a tough situation for Jarry to step into, but the Penguins have complete trust and confidence in the 25-year-old netminder.

Part of that is because of his practice habits, which have drastically improved as part of the maturation process Jarry has gone through since turning professional. He's been working hard to stay ready, and Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan believes that that will transfer into a game environment.

And part of that is because Jarry is a talented goalie, plain and simple. He's coming off a season where he was named an NHL All-Star, posting a 20-12-1 record in 33 games played and finishing in the top-10 among all NHL goaltenders with a .921 save percentage (tied eighth), 2.43 goals-against average (ninth) and three shutouts (tied-eighth).

At 6-foot-2 and 194 pounds, Jarry takes up a lot of net. He's got tremendous puck-handling skills, which he worked on during the pause with his two English Mastiffs, Diesel and Kitty. And he's also got the perfect mindset for playoffs, as he's poised, calm and collected - which should serve him well in this high-stakes environment.

Montreal: Carey Price

As if the Penguins' task at hand wasn't hard enough, to get a win they'll have to solve the best netminder in the league. Before the series began, Carey Price said he would be able to sway Montreal's odds of winning with some outstanding play, and that's exactly what he has done.

The 32-year-old netminder has a 2.19 goals-against average and .937 save percentage through the first three games, turning aside 104 of 111 shots. The Penguins have had to battle for every single puck that's gotten past Price, and even when they do beat him, he's been absolutely unflappable and continues to radiate calm from the crease.

The Penguins can't let him get in their heads - they just need to keep going to the net, taking away his sightlines and trying to capitalize on scrambles. Price is amazing, but he isn't invincible. "Price is probably the best goalie in the league right now," Malkin said. "We understand it's not easy to score, but we have chances to score. We will try to score (more) 5-on-5 for sure."