PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Penguins got a second chance in 24 hours to beat the Montreal Canadiens. There was little in their game Sunday in their game that resembled their losing effort Saturday as the Penguins played a significantly better, cleaner game.
However, more controversial calls followed the Penguins into the third period, and yet another win in regulation slipped through their grasp, forcing overtime. Then a shootout. But on a momentous day in which Sidney Crosby broke Mario Lemieux’s franchise record of 1723 points, the Penguins did something they haven’t done all season.
They won a shootout. Arturs Silovs stopped two of three shootout attempts. Kevin Hayes and Rickard Rakell scored shootout goals, and the Penguins won 4-3 at PPG Paints Arena.
The eight-game winless streak is over.
The Penguins were 1-9 in overtime and shootouts before Sunday.
Montreal tied the game just a few minutes into the third period when center Owen Beck crashed the crease, contacting both defenseman Parker Wotherspoon and Silovs, who was unable to make the subsequent save on Noah Dobson(6) at 4:04.
However, given the Penguins’ recent luck in unsuccessful challenges that seemed obvious, coach Dan Muse bypassed the challenge and the potential Montreal power play.
The Penguins outshot Montreal by a solid margin, 30-23 in regulation, and badly outchanced Montreal through two periods, earning 15 high-danger chances to merely three (a glitch in the NHL stats stopped recording stats after the second period).
For a week, the Penguins’ storylines seemed stuck in neutral. For two-plus games, the Penguins had failed to score. For four games, Crosby was within two, then one point away from tying icon Mario Lemieux for most points in Penguins history. And for eight straight games, the Penguins finished with the smaller number on the scoreboard.
However, in one period, the Penguins shed a pair of those albatrosses when Crosby (20) neatly deflected Erik Karlsson’s pass beyond Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes at 12:58 of the first period.
The goal tied the game 1-1, and did so just 27 seconds after Montreal put up the first marker. Oliver Kapanen (11) finished a beautiful tic-tac-toe play, snapping a wrister past Silovs at 12:31.
And five minutes later, the Penguins’ all-time points record was Crosby’s alone when Bryan Rust slipped a pass across the crease for Rickard Rakell (4) to pound into the net at 12:40.
Crosby earned the second assist and a bench-clearing mob of congratulations.
It was also the most successful Penguins period in five games, as they not only played well but also earned their first lead since leading the Utah Mammoth 4-1 in the third period, four games and seven days ago on Dec. 14.
Early in the second period, Ivan Demidov (8) completed a precision passing play to tie the game 2-2 at 3:54.
In a change of recent scripts, it was the Penguins who received the unlikely go-ahead goal midway through the second period. Noel Acciari (2) chased down Kris Letang’s high lob stretch pass and sniped a glove side wrister past Dobes at 11:51 of the second.
After two periods, the Penguins were outshooting the younger, faster Canadiens 28-17.
But holding leads was the start of the Penguins’ slide, losing a third-period lead to Dallas on Dec. 7. Not since Crosby’s rookie year had a Penguins winless streak reached nine games.
And it still hasn’t.
Tags: Montreal Canadiens Pittsburgh Penguins
Categorized: Penguins Postgame