Marcus Pettersson scored in overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday at PPG Paints Arena.
Rickard Rakell and Pettersson took advantage of a two-on-one run in the extra period. Rakell passed to his teammate entering the zone and Pettersson beat Jake Allen into the upper right corner of the net.
The Pennsylvania club thus ended a series of three losses, while the Canadian lost four of its last five matches.
Kaiden Guhle and Juraj Slafkovsky were the scorers for the Habs, who let two one-goal leads slip away in this duel.
Allen got his second start in three games. He stopped 30 pucks, suffering a 12th defeat in 17 games this season.
In his 1000th game in the National Hockey League, Lars Eller scored his ninth goal of the season and his 172nd career. Jake Guentzel also moved the ropes for the Penguins.
Tristan Jarry was tested 27 times.
Both teams will now enjoy a bye in the NHL All-Star Game. The Habs will return to action on February 6 when they visit the Washington Capitals, while the Penguins will host the Winnipeg Jets.
blow for blow
Guhle was the first scorer of this game at 15:53 of the first. From the point, Mike Matheson advanced towards the Penguins net and made a cross-ice pass to Guhle. Completely alone on the other side, the defender had no trouble finding the back of the net.
Cole Caufield collected an assist. He extended his streak to nine games with at least one point.
Eller, however, brought the two teams back to equal footing in the second period. A shot from Valtteri Puustinen was blocked by Matheson, and the puck ended up on the Dane’s stick. The latter made the red light sparkle at 4:05 of the second period.
Eller has played for five teams since his debut in the circuit, including the Habs. He has played 435 games in the blue-white-red uniform and has 387 career points. The Penguins also paid tribute to him during a short ceremony before the initial puck drop.
However, CH took the lead again on the power play a few moments later. Slafkovsky was trying to reach a teammate at the mouth of the net, but defenseman Ryan Graves accidentally deflected the puck into his own goal.
Slafkovsky was credited with his seventh goal of the campaign and his third on the power play while Kristopher Letang was in the penalty box.
Sidney Crosby then took charge in the third. The Penguins captain took a backhand pass from behind on a pivot, finding Guentzel at the mouth of the net. It was the 23rd goal this season for the American.
Crosby collected at least one point in his seventh straight game.
After receiving two penalties Thursday in a 4-3 victory against the New York Islanders, defenseman Arber Xhekaj was left out. Jordan Harris replaced him in the lineup.
Jesse Ylonen was also in action, replacing Brendan Gallagher. The latter was serving the first of five games of suspension for a blow to the head of Adam Pelech, of the Islanders.