Bloodied Letang nets OT goal

Associated Press

MONTREAL

Kris Letang returned from being bloodied by a hit late in regulation to score 2:09 into overtime, giving the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-3 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

Letang scored his third goal after James Neal poked the puck free from Carey Price as Pittsburgh improved to 3-0-1 since Sidney Crosby returned to the lineup.

Jordan Staal drew Pittsburgh even at 3 with 4:30 left in regulation. Staal drove in on Price after taking a pass from Evgeni Malkin and stickhandled to freeze the Montreal goalie before flipping a shot into the top left corner.

Crosby, who had three assists in Pittsburgh’s 6-3 win over Ottawa on Friday, got his eighth point in four games back from concussion-like symptoms that sidelined him for the better part of 11 months with an assist on Evgeni Malkin’s goal 21 seconds in.

Pascal Dupuis also scored for the Penguins. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots.

Max Pacioretty and Erik Cole each had a goal and an assist, and Travis Moen scored an unassisted goal for Montreal, which lost in Philadelphia on Friday. Carey Price made 38 saves.

Letang was bloodied by a hit by Pacioretty with 3:14 to go in the third. The Penguins defenseman was bleeding from the nose and had blood on his visor after he was run over by Pacioretty while following through on a slap shot inside the Montreal blue line. Guided by Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis as he skated off the ice to the dressing room, he returned for overtime. No penalty was called on the play.

Crosby picked up his sixth assist when Malkin scored during a delayed penalty call 21 seconds in. Malkin put the puck past Price for his eighth goal shortly after Crosby drove the net to draw a call against Canadiens defenseman Josh Gorges.

Crosby lost out on another assist 1:04 into the second after a goal awarded to Chris Kunitz was reversed by a video review, the first of two tallies denied to the Penguins forward during the game.