NHL Game Recap: Crosby Scores Twice In 3-1 Win, Defeating Canadiens

In his second game straight, Sidney Crosby scored two goals to help the Penguins secure a second win straight. He scored two goals in a 2-1 victory on Thursday against the Anaheim Ducks, then scored another pair on Saturday, November 2nd against the Montreal Canadiens at PPG Paints Arena. Blake Lizotte scored the third goal for Pittsburgh, and Christian Dvorak scored the lone goal for the Canadiens. The Penguins head back out on the road for a three-game trip, taking on the New York Islanders on Tuesday, November 5th.

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:

Malkin – Crosby – Rakell

O’Connor – Eller – Puustinen

Bunting – Glass – Acciari

Hayes – Lizotte – Beauvillier

Grzelyck – Letang

Pettersson – Karlsson

Graves – St. Ivany

Nedeljkovic

Blomqvist

Montreal Canadiens Lineup:

Caufield – Suzuki – Anderson

Newhook – Dach – Slafkovsky

Armia – Evans – Gallagher

Heineman – Dvorak – Kapanen

Matheson – Guhle

Hutson – Savard

Xhekaj – Struble

Montembeault

Primeau

Sidney Crosby opened the scoring late in the first period with 4:03 remaining on the clock, scoring his third to extend his streak. After an attempt to score by Montreal, the Penguins got the puck out of their zone and sent it up into the Canadiens’ zone… Crosby took a cross-ice pass from Rickard Rakell to the right face-off circle, dropping to one knee, and fired a snap shot past Sam Montembeault to put the Penguins in front 1-0.

Crosby struck again, giving Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead late into the second with 1:20 remaining for his fifth goal of the season and his fourth during his streak. He scored a power-play goal from the high slot after Kris Letang passed the puck over to him. With this goal, Crosby is only three goals away from 600 in the NHL. Before this goal, Sam Montembeault had kept the Penguins from extending the lead on a 2-on-1… After saving a wrist shot from Michael Bunting, he slid to his right, turning away another wrist shot.

Scoring the lone goal for Montreal to avoid getting shutout – Christian Dvorak scored his first goal of the season, cutting it to 2-1 at 14:29 of the final frame. He scored after his initial shot wasn’t gloved by Alex Nedeljkovic, following the rebound in the slot for a snap shot. With very little time remaining in the third and an empty Montreal net – Blake Lizotte scored an empty-net goal for a 3-1 final.

Sidney Crosby on the game and 3-1 victory overall, Rickard Rakell, and Evgeni Malkin: “I think just trying to be in the right spots. Sometimes when you’re pressing, you end up guessing or hesitating and forcing things, and then it ends up snowballing a bit. Getting back to being good positionally, fundamental stuff, and then trusting that the chances will come… Playing with Raks and Geno, we’re generating some looks, we have the puck, and that builds some confidence too. They’ve been unbelievable… All of that combined with the way we’re playing as a group, we’re defending better and it’s way more fun to play that way,” – “The more we play together, I think the more familiar we get. He’s somebody that can hold on to the puck and he likes to carry it. So, I think it’s just a matter of trying to either read off of him and get open, or create space when he does have it – whether it’s going to the net or trying to open up ice so that he can make a play. I think it’s one of those things the more you play together, but obviously, we both can play center so, we can switch off there and keep teams on their toes, hopefully.”

Notes:

– Before Blake Lizotte’s goal: Sidney Crosby had factored on each of the Penguins’ previous seven goals across three games (four goals, three assists)… Kris Letang had been the last player, before now, Crosby, to factor on seven straight goals for Pittsburgh with seven assists in three games from the 27th to the 30th of January 2015.

– On Thursday, against the Anaheim Ducks, Crosby put an end to a six-game goal drought when he scored both goals for the Penguins in their 2-1 overtime win.

– Crosby’s first was his 216th go-ahead goal, where he passes Marcel Dionne (215) for eighth in NHL history… Alex Ovechkin is in first with 284.

– Kris Letang has become the sixth active defenseman, as well as the 73rd blueliner in NHL history to skate in 1,100 career games… Letang had also recorded an assist in his 1,100th career game.

– Letang is the third Penguins player to reach 1,100 games. He joins Crosby (1,285) and Evgeni Malkin (1,158).

– Alex Nedeljkovic made a total of 25 saves for Pittsburgh.

– Sam Montembeault made a total of 21 saves for Montreal, and Cole Caufield’s streak ended at four games.

– The Montreal Canadiens were 0-for-2 on the power play, converting only once on 12 chances in the past three games… Prior, they had scored eight power-play goals in the first nine games.