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 That changed on Tuesday night against the Montreal Canadiens.
Bennett scored a goal and added two assists to lead Pittsburgh to a
4-0 win over Montreal at the Bell Centre. It was part of a six-point
night for he and his linemates, center Brandon Sutter (one goal) and
left winger Steve Downie (one goal and one assist).
"It was fun," said Bennett, who missed the Penguins' (13-3-1) first
13 games of the season and had been held without a point in his
first three outings. "Our line's starting to get the chemistry back
from the preseason and tonight was a big step in the right direction
and we've just got to take that into Friday, Saturday, and try to
come out plus or even in every game."
In a matchup of the Eastern Conference's two division leaders, it
looked like the Canadiens (14-5-1) would be picking up right where
they left off following their sixth straight win in Detroit on
Sunday.
Left winger Alex Galchenyuk broke in alone before opting for a pass
when the Penguins defense finally caught up. Shortly thereafter,
right winger Jiri Sekac got inside on defenseman Simon Despres and
drove hard to the net only to be denied on a pad save by Fleury.
 Instead, it was Pittsburgh that took advantage of early offensive
opportunities.
First, Bennett intercepted Beaulieu's pass before beating Price with
a shot from the slot at 7:46 of the first period.
"It's a good confidence builder, especially for Beau, who's been out
quite some time and he's had a couple of tough injuries and he comes
out and plays like he did and gets that early goal," said Sutter.
"That's a big boost for him. He's a big part of our team here and I
like playing with him. He's a fun guy to have on your wing and
hopefully he can keep skating the way he is."
Then, nearly two minutes later, Downie made it 2-0 when blue-liner
Kris Letang found him unattended at the side of the Montreal net.
"A couple of bounces didn't go our way early and I felt that we got
away from (our game plan)]," defenseman P.K. Subban said. "We tried
to do different things, turned the puck over at their blue line.
They're a transition team; we spoke about that before the game. They
capitalize on your turnovers."
Another Montreal defensive breakdown allowed Pittsburgh's third line
to keep rolling early in the second. After a pass to Tomas Plekanec
that landed in the center's skates sent the play the other way,
Bennett, from the bottom of right circle, dished off to Sutter alone
in the slot to put the Penguins up by three at 58 seconds.
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Crosby nearly made it 4-0 late in the second when he fired one from
the slot but the puck hit the left post and bounced out.
"The intentions were there most of the time but the execution was
very poor," said Canadiens left winger Max Pacioretty. "I think a
lot of it was maybe trying to do too much, especially early on,
instead of keeping things simple and keeping the puck going forward.
That's how we had success -- getting pucks behind the defensemen --
and not doing that early really made us pay."
Crosby made no mistake on a late-period power play. Price made the
initial save on center Evgeni Malkin's shot from in front of the net
but neither he nor his teammates could corral the rebound, which
found its way to Crosby on the doorstep. The goal was his first in
nine games.
Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 27 shots. Netminder
Carey Price made 18 saves for Montreal.
NOTES: Penguins D Olli Maatta returned to the lineup two weeks after
undergoing surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his thyroid
gland. ... D Andrei Markov appeared in his 785th NHL game with
Montreal, tying the late Emile Bouchard for 21st on the franchise's
all-time games played list. ... Pittsburgh RW Craig Adams suited up
for his 400th game with the club, becoming the 27th player in
Penguins history to reach the milestone. ... Canadiens D Mike Weaver
was a late scratch with an upper-body injury. ... LW Drayson Bowman
dressed in place of Weaver, playing his first game since Nov. 11.
... The Penguins scratched RW Pascal Dupuis (injury) and D Robert
Bortuzzo.
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