MONTREAL, QUEBEC – While Jaroslav Halak has gained most of the headlines during the 2010 play-offs, it was opposite number Marc Andre Fleury who celebrated his first play-off win in his home town. The Montreal native, who was selected 1st overall in 2003, posted an 18 shot shut out as the Penguins grabbed a 2-0 win to take a one game lead in the series against the Canadiens. Evgeni Malkin’s powerplay effort was the only shot to find its way past Halak, who made 22 save, with winger Pascal Dupuis adding an empty net goal late in the game to secure the Pens victory. Fleury made an average start to this years post season, posting a 2.80 goals against average and a sub .900 save percentage going in to game 3 against the Habs. The netminder will be hoping to build on his performance on Thursday when game 4 takes place at the Bell Centre. Pittsburgh will also be hoping for speedy recoveries for Jordan Staal and Bill Guerin. Staal took part in some light skating drills on Tuesday morning as he recovers from minor surgery ona foot injury sustained in game 1, while Guerin sat out game 3 with an undisclosed injury. Montreal meanwhile are faced with a familiar situation, needing to bounce back to keep themselves firmly in the series. However it looks likely they will be without star D man Andrei Markov as reports suggest he has torn his ACL following a hit from Pens forward Matt Cooke in game 1. The Habs are also without Jaroslav Spacek, who has a virus, but did welcome back veteran forward Glenn Metropolit. Contact the author: rob.mcgregor@prohockeynews.com
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