Penguins fall to Habs in shootout

Associated Press

MONTREAL

Benoit Pouliot scored on Montreal’s fifth shootout attempt to give the Canadiens a 2-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, who were missing injured captain Sidney Crosby on Thursday night.

Carey Price, who made 31 saves through overtime, was perfect in the shootout. He denied Kris Letang, Pascal Dupuis, Evgeni Malkin and Mark Letestu before stopping Chris Kunitz on Pittsburgh’s final attempt.

Pouliot deked Brent Johnson and let the puck slide into the right side of the net as Montreal won in its first shootout of the season. He also scored the tying goal in the second period as the Canadiens improved to 2-0-1 following a three-game losing streak.

Arron Asham scored in the first period for Pittsburgh, 1-2-1 in its last four games. Johnson made 22 saves, including stopping the only shot he faced in overtime.

Crosby, who leads the NHL with 32 goals and 66 points, missed his first game of the season because of an undisclosed upper body injury. He flew back to Pittsburgh on Thursday to be re-evaluated by team doctors after he was injured Wednesday in the Penguins’ 8-1 home victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Penguins forward Matt Cooke also returned to Pittsburgh because of personal reasons.

Montreal managed just one shot during a lengthy two-man advantage midway through the third. Pittsburgh was called for two straight delay-of-game penalties when Johnson and Paul Martin each cleared the puck over the glass while Alex Goligoski served a hooking penalty.

Penguins center Maxime Talbot beat out David Desharnais on a faceoff in Montreal’s zone to set up the opening goal 2:14 in.