In less than three weeks, the Penguins and Canadiens will face off in Game 1 of their qualifying round series in Toronto.
How do the two teams stack up against each other? We'll take a look at both teams' rosters, position-by-position. Yesterday, we looked at the forwards. We continue today with a look at the defense
PENGUINS
Pairings from Day 1 of camp:
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson -- John Marino
Jack Johnson -- Justin Schultz
Kevin Czuczman -- Chad Ruhwedel
Other defensemen:
Juuso Riikola, Pierre-Olivier Joseph
Big questions:
I wouldn't expect the pairings to change before Game 1, these combinations are all but set. My question, though, would be how the third pairing gets used. The third line is a weakness, and was sheltered to a degree during the regular season in terms of ice time, and where they got their time during the games. Johnson-Schultz pairing had more of their starts come in the offensive zone (54.55 percent) than the top two pairings. Can a defense pairing be sheltered over the course of the grind that is the playoffs?
CANADIENS
Pairings from Day 1 of camp:
Ben Chiarot — Shea Weber
Victor Mete — Jeff Petry
Christian Folin — Noah Juulsen
Gustav Olofsson — Cale Fleury
Other defensemen:
Josh Brook, Brett Kulak, Xavier Ouellet, Alexander Romanov (ineligible to play)
Big questions:
There are a couple of storylines to follow on the Canadiens' blueline. The Canadiens have been without three of their defensemen in each of the first two days of camp, with Brook, Kulak, and Ouellett missing Day 1, and Weber, Kulak, and Ouellet missing Day 2. Of the absences, just Kulak and Weber were NHL regulars. Kulak, if able to play, will likely knock one of Folin or Juulsen out of the lineup, but it's not clear what the pairings would be yet.
Another question is how Mete fares after originally expecting to miss the remainder of the season after fracturing his foot in February.
MATCHUP
Weber, rested and healthy, will be a thread on the Canadiens' blue line. His shot on the power play is one of the Canadiens' strengths heading into this series.
The teams allowed similar rates of shots against and goals against during the season. The Penguins allowed the fifth-fewest shots per game at 29.7, and the Canadiens allowed the 13th-fewest with 31.1 per game. The Penguins allowed the 12th-fewest goals per game with 2.84, and the Canadiens allowed the 19th-fewest at 3.10.
The teams blocked shots at a very similar rate too. The Penguins blocked 12.76 per game (21st in the league), and the Canadiens blocked 12.88 shots per game (20th in the league).
When you compare the groups of defensemen, the Penguins have the edge here, as Dejan wrote today in his column about the Penguins' depth at defense.
Letang, when asked how this group of defensemen compares to the defensemen from past Penguins teams that made it to the Stanley Cup Final.
“I think it’s a well-balanced D-corps for the perspective of offense and defense. I rank them probably in the top two. One or two, probably.”
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