The line of Bryan Rust, Rickard Rakell, and Sidney Crosby was dominant in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 9-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday night.
Rust scored three goals and had one assist, Rakell added two goals and two assists, and Crosby collected three assists.
Defenseman Kris Letang contributed a goal and an assist, while Anthony Beauvillier, Matt Nieto, and Noel Acciari also scored for Pittsburgh. Matt Grzelcyk had two assists, and Tristan Jarry made 21 saves.
Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored for Montreal. Sam Montembeault allowed six goals on 26 shots before being replaced by Cayden Primeau, who gave up three goals on seven shots.
Rust scored twice in 3:24 during the second period, giving the Penguins a 3-1 lead. His first goal came at 10:03 when he skated across the crease and slid the puck past Montembeault. His second goal came at 13:27, after a no-look pass from Rakell, which Rust tipped in.
Armia made it 3-2 with a slap shot from the left faceoff dot with 5:24 left in the second period.
In the third period, Pittsburgh exploded for six goals. Rakell scored his second goal at 4:40, tipping in Rust’s pass to make it 4-2. Letang added a power-play goal at 7:42, followed by Beauvillier’s goal just 59 seconds later. Rust completed his hat trick with an unassisted goal at 8:04. Nieto and Acciari rounded out the scoring, with Nieto scoring his first goal since November 4, 2023.
Suzuki opened the scoring early, netting his 11th goal 2:12 into the game. Rakell tied it at 4:18 in the first period with a power-play goal.
