Cammalleri, Halak lead Habs past Pens 3-1

Sidney Crosby showed his exasperation by slamming his stick against the net as the Pittsburgh Penguins were turned aside again and again by Montreal goaltender Jaroslav Halak.

Turns out it’s not just Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals that the underdog Canadiens are capable of frustrating, tormenting—and beating.

Mike Cammalleri scored two more goals, Halak made 38 saves in a performance much like his series-stealing play during Montreal’s first-round upset of Washington and the Canadiens surprised the Penguins by winning 3-1 on Sunday.

Brian Gionta also scored as Montreal, playing without injured defenseman Andrei Markov , bounced back from a 6-3 loss in Game 1 and an early 1-0 deficit to even the Eastern Conference semifinal series at one game each.

Suddenly, a series the Stanley Cup champion Penguins are heavily favored to win doesn’t look like a walkover after all.

“That’s what we wanted to do, a series like this, we wanted to get one (in Pittsburgh),” Scott Gomez said. “It’s far from over. But we came for one.”

And they got it. Game 3 is Tuesday night in Montreal, followed by Game 4 on Thursday. The first playoff series between the teams since 1998 returns to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Saturday.

“It’s nothing to get frustrated about,” Penguins forward Bill Guerin said. “We don’t have to go and reinvent the wheel. They’re a solid defensive team. They’re well coached, they know what they’re doing and you don’t want to get down to teams like that.”

Halak , pulled after allowing five goals on 20 shots in Game 1, made big save after big save as the Canadiens won despite being outshot 39-21. Crosby didn’t score for the second successive game and neither did Evgeni Malkin , even though Pittsburgh’s two stars skated together at times.

The Penguins were without center Jordan Staal because of a damaged tendon in his right foot—the first game he’s missed to injury in his four-season career — but his absence didn’t explain the Penguins’ inability to solve Halak . Or Pittsburgh going 0-for-3 on the power play after being a perfect 4-for-4 in Game 1.

“They were a little bit more aggressive in the neutral zone and in their zone, but that’s the playoffs, I mean everybody has got to adjust,” Crosby said. “They’re going to adjust and we’re going to adjust. At the end of the day we’ve got to find a way to put the puck in the net.”

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