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
IN-HOUSE BUSINESS: LA Clippers coach Tyronn Lue said that the reason for the team’s poor form was not due to Paul, but the player was not a good fit for them Chris Paul’s return stint with the Los Angeles Clippers has come to an abrupt and stunning end, with the franchise parting ways with one of its greatest players in a late-night meeting on Wednesday that adds another layer of drama to the team’s terrible start this season. The news was delivered in a meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, that ended at about 2am, Clippers basketball operations president Lawrence Frank said. Frank said he made the decision to sever ties with Paul on Sunday then told the franchise’s career assist leader that he needed to see him on Tuesday in Atlanta. Frank did not confirm
SEESAW CONTEST: The Pistons remain top of the Eastern Conference after battling to a win over the Hawks in a game that saw the lead change 27 times The Phoenix Suns on Monday shrugged off an injury to Devin Booker to end the Los Angeles Lakers’ seven-game winning streak with an emphatic 125-108 victory on the road. Booker exited in the first quarter, but the loss of the star point guard did little to halt the flow of Phoenix points over the remainder of the game. Dillon Brooks led the Phoenix scoring with 33 points, while Collin Gillespie added 28 — including eight three-pointers — as the Suns romped to victory. The Lakers were left ruing a colossal 22 turnovers — at a cost of 32 Suns points — on a
Kylian Mbappe on Wednesday scored twice and had an assist as Real Madrid beat Athletic Bilbao 3-0 to end a three-match winless streak in La Liga. Eduardo Camavinga also found the net for Madrid as they moved back within one point of Barcelona, who beat Atletico Madrid 3-1 on Tuesday. Both 19th-round matches were moved forward because Real Madrid, Barcelona, Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid are to play in the Supercopa de Espana semi-finals in Saudi Arabia next month. Real Madrid were coming off league draws against Girona, Elche and Rayo Vallecano. It was their second win in their past six matches in
PINA BRACE: Claudia Pina scored in the 61st and 74th minutes, while Vicky Lopez added one as Spain notched their third victory in a final in the past four tournaments Claudia Pina scored twice and Germany crumbled on Tuesday as Spain retained the UEFA Women’s Nations League title with a 3-0 victory in the final’s second leg. Vicky Lopez also scored after Pina finally broke the deadlock in the 61st minute with Germany stubbornly hanging on as Spain had done in the first leg, a 0-0 draw in Kaiserslautern on Friday. Spain were without three-time Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati, who broke her leg in training on Sunday. Lopez took Bonmati’s place and Spain dominated from the start. Esther Gonzalez swept the ball just past the post and Mariona Caldentey forced a save
RSS