Gene J. Puskar / AP

Pittsburgh's Matt Cooke, left, collides with Montreal's Andrei Markov during the Penguins' 6-3 victory Friday. Markov left the game with an injury and didn't return.

On Thursday, Penguins forward Pascal Dupuis hinted that Montreal’s penalty kill wouldn’t be nearly as successful as it was against Washington. He also predicted Halak would be lifted during the series.

“We watched some tapes and just tried to exploit their weaknesses,” Letang said. “Special teams always comes up big in the playoffs.”

Brian Gionta had a goal and an assist, but the Canadiens never led after P.K. Subban scored unassisted on a shot from the right point with 4:30 gone. Gonchar tied it about four minutes later after Gionta’s tripping penalty. Staal put the Penguins ahead to stay by cutting across the middle and beating Halak with a wrist shot at 13:27 of the first.

Staal, who has never missed a game to injury in his four NHL seasons, was hurt while being undercut by Subban near the midpoint of the second period. Markov was hurt while being upended by Penguins forward Matt Cooke as Markov was trying to control the puck along the boards.

Neither team sounded as if its injured player would be ready by Sunday.

“It’s a huge loss for us,” Canadiens defenseman Hal Gill said.

Staal is a Selke Trophy finalist for defensive play by a forward and almost always goes against an opponent’s top line.

“He’s a horse, he doesn’t miss games, he’s our iron man,” Dupuis said. “He must have been really injured not to come back.”

Markov’s injury inadvertently set up the Penguins’ go-ahead goal. As Markov was being attended to by trainers, two Canadiens players drew roughing penalties — only one Penguins player did — and Staal scored near the end of that power play.

Crosby stayed off for a few shifts after sustaining a facial injury in the second, but he returned later in the period.

Mike Cammalleri scored his sixth goal for Montreal, briefly cutting it to 3-2 in the second period, but Craig Adams answered late in the period to restore Pittsburgh’s two-goal advantage. Adams has two goals in seven playoff games after going without a goal all season.

Notes: Pittsburgh has won four of five against Montreal this season. ... Crosby has 16 points in seven postseason games. ... Montreal outshot Pittsburgh 31-24, but Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves. In the first round, Washington outshot Montreal 292-194.

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