Canadiens @ Penguins Top Six Minutes: Montreal takes a third point from weekend series

First period

• Montreal is the better team to begin the period, with the opening three shots on goal, the latest off a bad turnover right to the slot from Kris Letang.
• Jakub Dobeš’s first save comes as he takes the net off on one of his aggressive moves to the post. Those little plastic pegs aren’t enough to handle the force he uses.
• Thanks to Brendan Gallagher going to the top of the crease on a net drive, the Penguins are focsed on him and not Mike Matheson. Nick Suzuki finds him for the best chance so far, but Arturs Silovs makes a toe save.
• Noah Dobson clears the puck out of play. The Penguins will put their dangerous power play on the ice, though the Canadiens got several good chances, and a goal from Josh Anderson, last night while short-handed.
• Justin Brazeau gets a chance all alone at the side of the net (don’t play a drinking game with that as your trigger), but Dobeš makes the save.
• At the other end, Ivan Demidov fights hard for a puck on the boards and comes away with it near the point. He moves it to Juraj Slafkovský, who pops it across to Oliver Kapanen, and the Canadiens open the scoring.

Incredible passing play and it's 1-0 Habs on an Oliver Kapanen goal!

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 8:20 PM

• The response is immediate. Sidney Crosby’s line comes on the ice and hits the post, then they score on a shot from Crosby that ties him with Mario Lemieux from the franchise scoring lead at 1723 points.
• Four of the top nine scorers in NHL history have played for the Penguins: Jaromir Jagr (1921), Ron Francis (1798), Lemieux, and Crosby.
• The Canadiens get a power play, but can’t put themselves back in the lead.
• After a couple of chances for the Penguins, Joe Veleno collects the puck with a chance to get out of the zone and skates it right into the path of a charging Penguins player who strips in and walks in for a chance. Adam Engström trips Rutger McGroarty as the play continues and the Habs are back on the penalty kill.
• Another short-handed breakaway from Anderson, but Silovs makes the stop on the backhand shot.
• At the other end, Crosby’s shot created a rebound that that Rickard Rakell knocks in, and Crosby takes sole possession of Pittsburgh’s scoring record. The Habs’ punishment is having to watch the entire Penguins bench pour onto the ice to celebrate their captain’s historic achievement.
• Lane Hutson’s passes aren’t going where he wants them to tonight.
• These look like very different teams from the ones that played last night. Pittsburgh is closing down every Habs rush and then getting dangerous chances at every opportunity.
• Cole Caufield doesn’t know how much time is left and passes up a shooting chance to pass the puck back to the blue line as the horn sounds. That just sums up what turned into a bad period for Montreal despite a strong start. They allowed 14 shots, and that’s way too many. It’s a bit of a miracle they trail by just a goal.

Second period

• Two more early chances for Pittsburgh from within 15 feet. There’s zero effort to prevent those looks tonight.
• Anderson puts his shoulder into McGroarty’s chest and sends him flying. Montreal gets a good offensive-zone shift out of it.
• Demidov gets cross-checked down so he can’t play the puck, allowing the Penguins to continue their play in the offensive zone.
• Demidov gets the last laugh with a goal to end the shift. Slafkovský gained the zone and set up a shot for Oliver Kapanen that just went off Silovs’s shoulder. The Slovak then picks out Demidov on the other side for the goal.

Stop me if this sounds familiar Great passing by Juraj Slafkovsky sets up a goal for Ivan Demidov

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 9:11 PM

• Is that Montreal’s top line now?
• Sammy Blais takes a pass across the zone from Owen Beck and almost puts the Habs in the lead.
• Erik Karlsson grabs Zachary Bolduc’s arm as the forward carries the puck out from behind the net. The refs really seem to want Crosby to get the win in his milestone game.
• Caufield gets cross-checked from behind in the offensive zone with no call. This is really starting to look like a conspiracy.
• Crosby nearly has a second goal as he wins a faceoff straight back into Silovs’s breadbasket.
• At the 12-minute mark Pittsburgh get a fourth shot of the period, and Noel Acciari beats Dobeš clean to the glove side as the goalie slid too far off his angle.
• Arber Xhekaj was going to rush Acciari until he realized is was a two-on-one he was defending. He did all he could in that situation.
• Dobeš is down and out, and somehow the Penguins don’t score with three additional chances.
• A scrum ensues, and it’s a linesman down on the ice in the aftermath. It looks like he may have seriously injured his knee. He’s helped off the ice, and we’re going to see just three officials on the ice the rest of the way.
• Sammy Blais and Ryan Shea go off for roughing after the melee, sending the game to four-on-four. I hope we see some Slafkovský-Demidov here.
• The Penguins turn the puck over in the offensive zone, but it’s hard for Caufield to take advantage when his stick is being latched onto. It wasn’t called.
• When Acciari scored at 11:51 to make it 3-2, shots were 18-15 for Pittsburgh. The Penguins added 10 more shots in the final eight minutes of the period. The Canadiens shouldn’t be getting so deflated by a goal.

Third period

• The Canadiens start the period with a couple of icings.
• Noah Dobson scores, but Owen Beck had been driven through the crease into Silovs, and I fully expect this goal to be overturned.

Owen Beck is shoved into Silovs, and the Pens don't challenge for interference Noah Dobson scores on the backhand to make it 3-3

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— Scott Matla (@scottmatla.bsky.social) December 21, 2025 at 10:11 PM

• The Penguins opt not to challenge it. The goal reviewers in Toronto must have thrown up their hands in disbelief.
• Beck has the stick slashed out of his hands and that will draw a call. The Penguins attempt to take Xhekaj with them to the box, but that’s not happening. A big opportunity here.
• Hutson faked a shot so hard Suzuki fell down standing 30 feet away from him.
• Demidov’s stick breaks as he goes for a shot from the bottom of the circle.
• Caufield’s sticks snaps in half on the other side later on in the shift, and that spoils the 30 passes made to that point to set up the shot. Not nearly enough urgency on that power play with a chance to take the lead. The hardware malfunctions didn’t help, but they also didn’t need the perfect setup to get a shot.
• Anderson steps into the faceoff dot and wins it cleanly versus Crosby. He really should be taking more of those. He leads in team in faceoff percentage.
• Suzuki gets a shot and has some open net to shoot at, but misses by an inch.
• Beck is off to the box for hooking. An even bigger moment coming up now.
• The penalty is killed, and the Canadiens are six minutes away from a point they probably don’t deserve.
• Veleno and Jack St. Ivany just bashed their heads together skating in opposite direction. Veleno gets the worst of it, but still seems to be okay. An unfortunate collision.
• Time expires, and with that third point in this weekend home-and-home, the Canadiens have taken the tiebreaker over the Penguins should that come into play at the end of the season.

Overtime

• Suzuki gets kicked out of the centre-ice faceoff. He then gets a winger win anyway with Caufield at the dot.
• Suzuki sends a timed pass to Hutson with the defenceman driving the net. The shot goes just wide.
• Hutson goes down behind the offensive goal line and comes away with the puck. He works it out front to open space and tries to beat Silovs with a deke. Great effort from him.
• Matheson fires the puck off the post.
• Slafkovský gets tripped by Crosby. No call is coming, The Canadiens somehow maintain possession.
• Slafkovský forces the puck away from Rakell and goes in for a shot, hitting the post once more.
• Suzuki’s one-timer goes wide.
• Caufield gets a one-timer in the dying seconds. He hits Montreal’s third post of the overtime.

Shootout

• Let’s hope the Habs are tired of hearing pings.
• Kevin Hayes softly lobs a puck over the blocker of Dobeš to open the scoring.
• Alexandre Texier tries a smooth backhand through the five-hole, but Silovs makes the stop.
• Crosby is denied by Dobeš’s arm.
• Caufield goes five-hole. We’re tied at one through two rounds.
• Dobeš comes out too far to challenge Rakell, and is too vulnerable to the deke.
• Suzuki is stopped by Silovs’s pad, and the Penguins will win this game. They deserved to take in regulation, Montreal deserved to take in overtime. One team had to win it.
• Montreal will have to get its 10th road win on Tuesday when it takes on the Boston Bruins.

EOTP 3 Stars

3) Must be a clerical error

2) I might list that as the first line next game

1) Still plenty left in the tank for him to set the Canadiens’ franchise mark as well