93.7 The Fan (PITTSBURGH) - Marcus Pettersson's overtime goal sends Penguins into bye with a 3-2 win over Montreal.
Montreal opened the scoring late in the first period as Mike Matheson baited the Penguins defense to come to him and he found a wide open Kaiden Guhle in front of the net to make it 1-0 Canadiens after one period of play.
On a night where he was honored for his 1000th career game, Lars Eller evened the score 1-1 after Valtteri Puustinen was denied by Jake Allen. Eller got the rebound and scored to tie the game.
Just about eight minutes later, Montreal retook the lead as Juraj Slafkovsky threw a pass in front of the net and it bounced off Ryan Graves past Tristan Jarry.
In the third period, Sidney Crosby made an incredible backhanded no look pass to Jake Guentzel in front of the net for the game tying goal.
"It was incredible," said Mike Sullivan. "It's one of the better ones we've seen in a while. He just has eyes in the back of his head. I don't know how he knows he's there or saw him but we just grow accustomed to it. He makes so many good plays throughout the course of the game, but that one was certainly a highlight reel goal."
In overtime, Montreal had two players behind the net and Matheson tried to throw the puck at the net. Evgeni Malkin got a stick on the puck and the Penguins had a 2 on 1 rush to the net. Pettersson buried a wrist shot past Allen to win the game.
"I don't think I'm going to get a lot of chances to score in overtime," said Petterson. "It felt huge, going into the break and getting two points, battling back once again, but this time coming out on the right side, it brings some juice into the break."
The Pens have a week off for the bye week and All-Star Weekend. They play Winnipeg February 6 at 7 p.m.