PITTSBURGH (AP) Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal 1:54 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Saturday night for their fourth straight victory.
Montreal was whistled for too many men on the ice 1:10 into OT, and then Malkin scored his 16th of the season. Conor Sheary tied it with 55 seconds left in the third period by scoring his ninth goal of the season.
Patric Hornqvist and Phil Kessel also scored for the Penguins, who won for the fifth time in six games. Pittsburgh won 12 of 15 games in December, finishing with 12 wins in a calendar month for the fourth time in team history and the second under coach Mike Sullivan.
Defenseman Kris Letang returned for Pittsburgh after missing seven games with a lower-body injury. The Penguins won four of seven games without Letang, who assisted on the tying and winning goals.
Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 37 shots for Pittsburgh. He is 6-0-1 in his last seven games.
Alexander Radulov, Paul Byron and Brian Flynn scored for the Canadiens, who have one win in their last five games. Montreal, on a season-high seven-game road trip, has seven wins in 17 road games this season.
Carey Price made 37 saves for Montreal.
Malkin finished with a goal and an assist to move ahead of Sidney Crosby for the NHL scoring lead with 43 points. Malkin scored seven goals and had 21 points in December.
Crosby, who entered tied with Edmonton’s Connor McDavid for the scoring lead, had his six-game point streak and season-high five-game point streak end. Crosby, with 26 goals in 32 games this season, led all players in the 2016 calendar year with 53 goals and 100 points in 76 games.
Flynn gave Montreal a 3-2 lead 2:04 into the third period. His initial shot hit the post and kicked back out, hitting Penguins’ D Chad Ruhwedel and Fleury before going into the net.
The lead stood until Sheary tied the game in the final minute for Pittsburgh. Fleury was pulled when Justin Schultz’s shot hit Sheary in front and deflected behind Price. Schultz has seven goals and 19 points in his last 16 games.
Radulov scored the only goal of the first period, but Pittsburgh jumped in front on goals from Hornqvist and Kessel in the first five minutes of the second period. Byron tied the game for the Canadiens on a deflection in the final minute of the second period.
NOTES: Defenseman Olli Maatta returned for Pittsburgh after missing two games with an illness. … Pittsburgh, with points in 11 straight home games, owns the league’s best home record at 17-2-2. … Canadiens D Shea Weber played in his 800th NHL game. Weber played 11 seasons in Nashville before he was traded to Montreal in the summer. … Goaltender Matt Murray, who led Pittsburgh to the Stanley Cup in the spring, is week-to-week with a lower-body injury suffered Wednesday against Carolina.
UP NEXT
Canadiens: Continue their trip Tuesday at Nashville
Penguins: Begin their bye week and will not play again until Sunday, Jan. 8 against Tampa Bay at home.
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