Sidney Crosby had Mark Recchi as a mentor when he entered the NHL 18 years ago.
On Wednesday night, Crosby matched his former teammate on the NHL career scoring list as the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from two goals down and beat the Montreal Canadiens 4-3 in a marathon 12-round shoot-out.
“It goes by really quick,” Crosby said about his career. “To be in company with Recchs, having played with him, having watched him here [in Montreal], I know the type of career he had and how good he was, how consistent he was. Definitely a compliment to be in company with him.”
Photo: Eric Bolte-USA Today
Crosby had two goals and an assist to move past Paul Coffey and into a tie with Recchi for 13th place on the NHL points list with 1,533.
Jake Guentzel also scored in regulation and Jansen Harkins scored the deciding goal in the shoot-out.
Erik Karlsson had two assists and Alex Nedeljkovic finished with 39 saves as the Penguins won their second straight after a four-game skid.
“It’s always fun once it starts going, guys on the bench are starting to panic a little bit and hoping for a goal so they don’t get picked, but at the same time it’s one of those things that guys get opportunities to take a penalty shot that otherwise they might have not, and Harks scored a goal for us,” Karlsson said.
David Savard, Jayden Struble and Sean Monahan scored for Montreal, who have lost eight of their past nine at home. Sam Montembeault had 27 saves.
Montreal’s Nick Suzuki and Cole Caulfield and Pittsburgh’s Kris Letang and Crosby all scored on the first four attempts of the shoot-out. The next eight skaters could not convert until Sean Monahan scored for the Canadiens and Lars Eller for the Penguins in the seventh round. Another nine skaters went before Harkins, who got only 4 minutes, 24 seconds of ice time during the game, ended it.
“I don’t know if he’s taken a penalty shot before, let alone scored a goal,” Karlsson said. “So it’s a big moment for him.”
Montreal failed to score after spending almost an entire four-on-three overtime power play in Pittsburgh’s zone following Evgeni Malkin’s tripping penalty.
Montreal built leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in the first period, before Pittsburgh scored twice in the second to tie the game.
“We had so many great moments,” Canadiens coach Martin St Louis said. “And then we shoot ourselves in the foot.”
With the Penguins on a power play, Guetzel got a pass from Crosby at the high slot and fired a shot past Montembault make it 3-2 at 5:36 of the middle period. It was Guentzel’s 13th goal of the season.
Crosby got his second of the night to tie it nearly 5:30 later with Pittsburgh’s second power-play tally of the night. Crosby got a pass in the high slot from Karlsson and scored past Montembault for his 17th with just under 9 minutes left in the second period. That pulled him into a tie with Recchi.
Savard, playing in just his seventh game of the season, got the Canadiens on the scoreboard at 6:24 of the first period with his first.
Struble made it 2-0 with 7:39 left in the opening period as he beat Nedelkjovic from the right side for his second.
Crosby got the Penguins on the scoreboard 1:27 later as he backhanded a loose puck during a scramble on the left side. It tied him with Coffey (1,531) for 14th place.
Crosby is tied for the league lead with 14 even-strength goals this season.
“I understand how hard you have to work to play at this level,” Crosby said. “Each and every year I mean, the guys that are coming in are so skilled and so fast. It’s not easy, so a lot of work goes into it.”
The Canadiens retook a two-goal lead with a power-play goal with 4:40 left in the first period. Mike Matheson’s wrist-shot from the post trickled through Nedeljkovic and landed on the goal-line, where Monahan was on hand to tap it in.
Elsewhere, the Jets downed the Kings 5-2, the Islanders sank the Ducks 4-3, the Avalanche swatted aside the Sabres 5-1 and the Devils beat the Bruins 2-1 in overtime.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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