Lars Eller scored two goals against his old team, Evgeni Malkin added a goal and two assists, and the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 on Monday night.
Kris Letang, Kevin Hayes, and Rickard Rakell also found the net for Pittsburgh, while Tristan Jarry made 24 saves.
Sidney Crosby did not score, leaving him one point away from 1,600. The 37-year-old is aiming to become just the 10th player in NHL history to achieve this milestone.
For Montreal, Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Emil Heineman scored. Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each provided two assists, and Sam Montembeault made 26 saves.
Eller scored both of his goals with powerful wrist shots, marking his first points of the season. The 35-year-old from Denmark played for the Canadiens from 2010 to 2016.
With Slafkovsky scoring his first of the season, Montreal recorded a power-play goal for the fourth game in a row. Rookie Lane Hutson didn’t score but received cheers every time he touched the puck, and the excitement grew with each play, including a slick move around Crosby late in the second period.
Hayes put the Penguins ahead 4-3 with 12:13 left in the game. The 32-year-old forward was alone in front of the net and scored on a rebound past Montembeault. Letang extended the lead four minutes later.
It took the Canadiens 15:30 to get their first shot on goal. Fans cheered sarcastically two minutes earlier when Jake Evans made a dump-in attempt, but the Canadiens weren’t credited with a shot at that time.
