NHL

Pittsburgh Penguins at Montreal Canadiens

· National Hockey League

Eller scores 2 goals, Malkin has goal and 2 assists as Penguins beat Canadiens 6-3

Lars Eller scores first for Penguins

Kris Letang, Kevin Hayes and Rickard Rakell also scored for Pittsburgh, and Tristan Jarry stopped 24 shots.

Sidney Crosby was held off the scoresheet, keeping him one point shy of 1,600. The 37-year-old is looking to become just the 10th player in NHL history to reach the mark.

Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky and Emil Heineman scired for Montreal. Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each had two assists and Sam Montembeault made 26 saves.

Takeaways Penguins: Eller converted both goals — his first points of the season — with wicked wrist shots. The 35-year-old from Denmark played for the Canadiens from 2010-16.

Canadiens: With Slafkovsky’s first of the season, the Canadiens scored a power-play goal for the fourth consecutive game. Rookie Lane Hutson didn’t produce a point, but fans cheered every time he touched the puck and the buzz only grew louder with every play, including a slick deke around Crosby late in the second period.

Key moment Hayes put the Penguins ahead 4-3 with 12:13 remaining in the game. The 32-year-old forward was all alone in front before burying a rebound past Montembeault. Letang doubled the lead four minutes later.

Key stat 15:30 — that’s how long it took for the Canadiens to register their first shot on goal. Fans cheered sarcastically two minutes earlier when Jake Evans sent a dump-in toward the net, but the Canadiens weren’t credited with a shot.

Up Next Penguins host Buffalo on Wednesday night to open a two-game homestand, and Canadiens host Los Angeles on Thursday to wrap up a three-game stretch at home.

Regular Season Series

PIT leads series 1-0

Scoring Summary

Goal 1st Period 6:54 Lars Eller Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Jesse Puljujarvi (2), Marcus Pettersson (2)
Goal 1st Period 16:49 Rickard Rakell Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Evgeni Malkin (5), Michael Bunting (1)
Goal 1st Period 18:16 Kaiden Guhle Goal (1) Slap Shot, assists: Mike Matheson (2), Nick Suzuki (2)
Goal 2nd Period 2:51 Juraj Slafkovsky Goal (1) Deflected, assists: Nick Suzuki (3), Mike Matheson (3)
Goal 2nd Period 14:26 Emil Heineman Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: none
Goal 2nd Period 16:23 Lars Eller Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: none
Goal 3rd Period 7:47 Kevin Hayes Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Noel Acciari (1), Erik Karlsson (2)
Goal 3rd Period 11:32 Kris Letang Goal (2) Snap Shot, assists: Evgeni Malkin (6), Matt Grzelcyk (1)
Goal 3rd Period 18:50 Evgeni Malkin Goal (1) Wrist Shot, assists: Matt Grzelcyk (2)

Statistics

https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/pit.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originPIT https://a.espncdn.com/combiner/i?img=/i/teamlogos/nhl/500/mtl.png&h=100&scale=crop&w=100&location=originMTL
16 Blocked Shots 22
23 Hits 28
9 Takeaways 6
30 Shots 28
0 Power Play Goals 1
1 Power Play Opportunities 2
0.0 Power Play Percentage 50.0
0 Short Handed Goals 0
0 Shootout Goals 0
31 Faceoffs Won 17
64.6 Faceoff Win Percent 35.4
23 Giveaways 8
3 Total Penalties 2
6 Penalty Minutes 4

Game Information

Bell Centre

Location: Montreal, QC
Attendance: 21,105 | Capacity:

2024-25 Metropolitan Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Carolina 14 4 28 0
Washington 13 4 27 1
New Jersey 12 7 26 2
NY Rangers 12 4 25 1
NY Islanders 7 7 19 5
Philadelphia 8 10 18 2
Pittsburgh 7 10 18 4
Columbus 7 9 16 2

2024-25 Atlantic Division Standings

TEAM W L PTS OTL
Toronto 12 6 26 2
Florida 12 6 25 1
Tampa Bay 10 6 21 1
Buffalo 9 9 19 1
Boston 8 9 19 3
Ottawa 8 9 17 1
Detroit 7 9 16 2
Montreal 7 10 16 2
Full Standings