The Pittsburgh Penguins had this one in their grasp, let it slip clean through their fingers, and then still found a way to walk away with the win.
After getting pushed around early and staring at a 1-0 deficit, Pittsburgh erupted for five goals and built a 5-1 cushion later in the second period. But Montreal kept coming, and a third-period surge erased the lead entirely before Tommy Novak ended it in overtime with his second goal of the night for a 6-5 Penguins victory at PPG Paints Arena.
It was the kind of game that swung hard in every direction. Montreal’s Cole Caufield opened the scoring just a few minutes into the contest, and the Penguins looked a step behind as the Canadiens controlled the early shot clock, 7-1 in the first period.
Then Pittsburgh flipped the script. The Penguins outshot Montreal 21-5 over the next 30 minutes, turned rush chances into zone time, and started burying looks as the Canadiens’ defensive coverage fell apart.
Evgeni Malkin got Pittsburgh even on the power play, and from there the goals came in a rush. Declan Carlile scored on a surprise drive into the offensive zone, Sam Girard crashed the net for another, Novak finished a two-on-one, and Ben Kindel added a power-play deflection before the night took its wildest turn.
Montreal made it interesting late in the second when Nick Suzuki chipped one over Arturs Silovs, and the Canadiens kept the pressure on in the third. Caufield struck again at 3:31, and Pittsburgh briefly thought it had restored a two-goal edge when Egor Chinakhov scored at 5:25, only for Montreal coach Martin St. Louis to win the offside challenge and wipe it away.
The comeback kept building from there. Chris Kreider pulled Montreal within one at 18:52, and Ivan Demidov tied it 24 seconds later at 19:16. By then, a game that looked headed for a comfortable Pittsburgh finish had become a full-on survival test.
Silovs was busy throughout regulation, stopping 20 of 25 shots and turning aside a couple of breakaways. Montreal goalie Jakub Dobes was pulled after allowing five goals on 29 shots, finishing with 24 saves.
The scoring started with Pittsburgh’s early mistakes. Novak, Malkin and Kris Letang each coughed up the puck in a short span, and Caufield made the Penguins pay by flying down the right wing and beating Silovs from the circle at 3:49.
Pittsburgh answered on the power play after a sequence involving Sidney Crosby and Mike Matheson. Crosby was hit by Matheson away from the puck, responded with an elbow, a whack and a smack, and only Matheson was penalized. The Penguins cashed in 29 seconds later when Malkin pounced on Letang’s rebound and forced the puck over the line at 14:07.
The second period belonged to Pittsburgh. Carlile’s goal at :32 came after he took a pass at the red line, attacked with purpose and snapped a wrister past Dobes.
Girard made it 3-1 at 7:59 after Crosby circled behind the net and set him up for a finish over a fallen goalie. Novak’s second-period strike at 14:01 came off a defensive stop by Malkin at center ice, a quick feed to Chinakhov, and a two-on-one that ended with Novak burying an open-net chance.
Kindel’s goal at 15:32 came after a Montreal too many men on the ice penalty and another Pittsburgh possession win in the slot.
Then came the collapse, the challenge, and the overtime finish that finally settled it.
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