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 Center Sidney Crosby and winger David Perron scored on Pittsburgh's
only attempts in the shootout, and the Penguins won their 10th in 12
games by rallying to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 Wednesday night
at the Consol Energy Center.
"We haven't played our best," right winger Patric Hornqvist said,
referring to the traditionally high-scoring Penguins' struggles
while averaging barely two goals per game. "But we're still winning
... that says a lot for our group."
The Penguins, down 3-2 after being outshot 13-1 during Montreal's
two-goal second period, won after trailing following two periods for
the first time since Jan. 5, 2014. They are 10-5 after losing their
first three to start the season.
"We had a good talk after the second period and came out strong and
got a big win," Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said.
Fleury made 32 saves -- he has a 2.00 goals-against average in 13
games -- to deal the NHL-leading Canadiens (13-2-2) only their
fourth loss. Fleury turned aside both of Montreal's skaters in the
shootout -- centers Alex Galchenyuk and David Desharnais.
Before that, Hornqvist beat goalie Mike Condon under the crossbar
with 6:25 remaining in regulation to tie it at 3-3 -- a goal created
when Crosby kept control of the puck by taking it between his legs
before feeding Hornqvist.
"I don't know how he does it sometimes," Hornqvist said of Crosby,
who had a two-point night but still has a career-low two goals after
15 games.
Pittsburgh went on the power play with 2:17 remaining in the third
period, and again with 2:26 left in the overtime after a Montreal
too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty but couldn't score either time. The
Penguins were 0-for-4 with the man advantage.
Montreal had won four of its previous five, but Condon (6-0-2) --
filling in for the injured Carey Price -- failed to win for only the
second time in eight starts despite stopping 31 shots.
"He gave us a chance to win," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said.
"I thought we played a really solid second period, but when you look
at the third, the Penguins really pushed the pace. They were tough
to defend and we were on our heels."
The Canadiens, down 2-1 after the Penguins scored in the first and
last minutes of the first period, came back to take that 3-2 lead on
goals by first-line right winger Brendan Gallagher and fourth-line
right winger Brian Flynn less than seven minutes apart in the second
period. Left winger Max Pacioretty assisted on both.
Gallagher took Pacioretty's breakout pass from the Montreal end at
the blue line -- after it deflected off Penguins defenseman Ian
Cole's skate -- and broke in hard from the left circle to beat
Fleury for his seventh of the season at 7:47.
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Flynn got his second with a wrist shot from the right circle that
deflected off Fleury's chest and into the net at 14:12. Fleury
needed stitches after catching teammate Ben Lovejoy's stick near his
eye during the first period, but returned after being off the ice
less than two minutes.
"It felt bad a little bit, and I was scared for a second," Fleury
said. "My dad lost an eye to a stick."
The Penguins, playing at home for the first time in nearly two
weeks, scored just 13 seconds into the game when left winger Pascal
Dupuis, stationed at the left post, deflected Crosby's shot from the
edge of the right circle. It was one of at least five excellent
Pittsburgh scoring chances close to the net in the opening minutes.
"We did a good job of bending but not breaking," Condon said.
Dupuis returned after missing two games on Pittsburgh's western
Canada trip last week for precautionary reasons. Dupuis sat out five
months of last season with blood clots.
The Canadiens tied it just slightly less than four minutes later on
defenseman Andrei Markov's knuckling one-timer from beyond the right
circle.
Pittsburgh went ahead 2-1 with 54 seconds left in the first as
defenseman Olli Maatta had right winger Phil Kessel's wrist shot
from the above the circles deflect off his leg and in.
NOTES: Canadiens G Carey Price (lower body) is expected to be out
another week after getting a second opinion Monday in New York. ...
Canadiens RW Alexander Semin was a healthy scratch for the seventh
consecutive game. Also scratched were D Greg Pateryn and D Jarred
Tinordi. ... Penguins RW Beau Bennett became the third winger to
start on C Sidney Crosby's right side, following RW Phil Kessel and
RW Patric Hornqvist. Hornqvist is now on C Nick Bonino's third line
... Pittsburgh scratched D Adam Clendening and LW Sergei Plotnikov.
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