Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists for the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, who scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win 6-3 against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday.
Kevin Hayes cleaned up a rebound in front to put Pittsburgh in front 4-3 at 7:47 of the third period.
Kris Letang jumped up in the play and finished with a shot from the slot off a feed from Malkin to make it 5-3 at 11:42. Malkin added an empty-net goal at 18:50 for the final score.
Lars Eller scored twice, Rickard Rakell added a goal and Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for the Penguins, who leveled their record at 2-2-0.
Juraj Slafkovsky, Kaiden Guhle and Emil Heineman scored for Montreal, which slipped to 2-2-0. Sam Montembeault made 25 saves.
Trailing 2-0 late in the first period, the Canadiens put up three unanswered goals.
Guhle fired a slap shot from above the right circle to cut the Canadiens’ deficit in half at 18:16 of the first.
Just 2:51 into the second period, Slafkovsky tied it 2-2 on the power play when he received a pass on the doorstep from Suzuki and directed it past Jarry’s stick.
Heineman gave Montreal its lone lead of the night at 14:26 of the middle period. He took a loose puck in the defensive zone and carried it down the left side before sending a snap shot from the circle far side.
Eller tied it 3-3 at 16:23 of the second. The center beat Canadiens defenseman Mike Matheson to a loose puck in Pittsburgh’s end and carried it up the ice to the right circle, where he tucked it under the crossbar at 16:23.
Pittsburgh controlled the play for much of the first period and benefited to take a 2-0 lead.
Eller made it 1-0 at 6:54. Jesse Puljujarvi received a pass from Marcus Pettersson in the neutral zone and took it into the left circle before feeding an oncoming Eller, who fired a wrist shot from the high slot over Montembeault’s glove.
Rakell doubled the lead at 16:49 of the first. Malkin took a short pass from Michael Bunting behind the net and immediately dished to Rakell, who quickly snapped it top corner blocker side.
–Field Level Media
