Canadiens shut out Penguins in Game 4 of Cup Qualifiers, win series

Artturi Lehkonen scored with 4:11 remaining in the third period to help the Montreal Canadiens advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs with a 2-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Qualifiers at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Friday.

Montreal was 12th in the Eastern Conference standings, and 24th in the NHL standings this season. No team had ever won an NHL postseason series finishing that low.

"We were definitely all motivated going into this series," Canadiens goalie Carey Price said after making 22 saves. "Nobody was giving us a prayer to beat them. That definitely played a factor into it. I thought we all took it with a grain of salt. Went out there and just tried to prove everybody wrong."

WATCH: [All Penguins vs. Canadiens highlights]

Tristan Jarry made 20 saves in his NHL postseason debut for Pittsburgh, the No. 5 seed. He replaced Matt Murray, who started the first three games of the best-of-5 series.

"I thought guys prepared themselves well," Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. "But when the puck dropped, we faced a well-balanced team with a great goaltender that played better than us. And I think that's what happened."

The shutout was Price's sixth in the NHL postseason, his first since making 43 saves against the Ottawa Senators in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round on April 26, 2015.

"I thought our structure got better," he said. "I thought we developed into a really defensive cluster and made it more difficult for them to come up the ice. We were just competing in our end. I think that's what it came down to."

Lehkonen gave Montreal a 1-0 lead on a wrist shot set up by a backhand pass from Paul Byron.

"That was a good pass from Paul behind the net," Lehkonen said. "I just had to tap it in towards the net, and luckily it found the net. … Everybody was kind of counting us off. So of course, it feels good to win this series. But it was one series, and now we have to enjoy this for a moment and then move on."

Shea Weber scored an empty-net goal to make it 2-0 with 32 seconds remaining.

Montreal will play the winner of the round-robin game Saturday between the Tampa Bay Lightning and Philadelphia Flyers in the Eastern Conference First Round in Toronto, the Eastern Conference hub city.

"I thought it was more about the guys," Canadiens coach Claude Julien said. "They're starting to understand how consistency is important. I think we've played four good games. … This was our fourth game in seven nights, and I thought we did an excellent job of defending. We didn't give them much.

"We knew their backs were against the wall. They were going to be desperate. But I think defensively, we did a great job."

The Penguins have a 12.5 percent chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Monday.

Penguins center Sidney Crosby, who played on his 33rd birthday, hit the crossbar on a power play at 6:55 of the third. He scored three points (two goals, one assist) in the series to pass Doug Gilmour and Joe Sakic for eighth place in NHL postseason points (189; 68 goals, 121 assists in 168 games).

"Listen, it's a three-out-of-five. Anything can happen," Crosby said. "We did some good things. Did we do enough? No. Give them credit. They played really well and got some big plays throughout the four games. … This is a situation we were faced with. Would've loved a better outcome."

The Penguins have lost nine of their past 10 postseason games since defeating the Washington Capitals 3-1 in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Second Round on May 3, 2018. They won Game 2 of this series 3-1 on Monday.

"I thought the first two games, we played extremely well," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought the first game might have been our best. So we didn't get the power play going in Game 1, but every other aspect of our game was pretty good. We needed our best tonight and we didn't get it."

NHL.com columnist Dave Stubbs contributed to this report