CROSBY LEADS PENGUINS TO A 5-1 VICTORY

PITTSBURGH 5, MONTREAL 1

WHEN: 7:00 PM ET, Saturday, March 2, 2019
WHERE: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec
REFEREES: Steve Kozari, Dan O'Rourke
LINESMEN: Lonnie Cameron, Tony Sericolo
ATTENDANCE: 21302

Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists, and Jake Guentzel had two goals and two assists Saturday as the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins jumped on the Montreal Canadiens early in a 5-1 win.

It was the 32nd time in his career Crosby has amassed four or more points in a game, and he made it 10 career seasons with at least 80 points. He has 83.

Evgeni Malkin also scored and Jared McCann had a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which has won two of its past three games and pulled even with the Canadiens and into a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference at 77 points.

Goaltender Matt Murray stopped 36 of 37 Montreal shots.

Brendan Gallagher scored for Montreal, which had won two straight.

Carey Price gave up four goals on 24 shots.

With six weeks left in the season and a tight race in the East for playoff spots, both teams opted to go with their No. 1 goaltender for the second night in a row.

Crosby scored 21 seconds into the first period. He forced a turnover in Montreal's end, with McCann feeding Guentzel, who set up Crosby for a deflection that banked off the right post and the back of Price's skate.

That goal boosted Crosby past Jaromir Jagr into sole possession of second place all-time in Penguins history with 440 goals.

Malkin's power-play goal on a shot from the left point at 4:38 of the second made it 2-0.

Guentzel hit the 30-goal mark for the first time and made it 3-0 at 8:51 of the first. Off a faceoff won by Crosby, Guentzel scored from the top of the left circle.

That gave Pittsburgh three goals on four shots.

At 6:24 of the second, Guentzel struck again to make it 4-0. He took a feed from Crosby and lofted the puck past Price's right shoulder.

Montreal cut it to 4-1 at 7:20 of the second when Gallagher's shot clipped Murray's arm on its way into the net.

McCann added an empty-net goal with 1:24 left.

TOP GAME PERFORMANCES

PITTSBURGH		MONTREAL
Jake Guentzel 4	Points	Brendan Gallagher 1
Jake Guentzel 2	Goals	Brendan Gallagher 1
Sidney Crosby 3	Assists	Phillip Danault 1
Evgeni Malkin 1	Power Play Goals	N/A
N/A	Short Handed Goals	N/A
Matt Murray .973	Save Percentage	Carey Price .833
Matt Murray 36	Saves	Carey Price 20

Team Stats Summary

Team	Shots	Goals	Power Play	Penalty Kill	Penalty Mins	Face Offs Won
PITTSBURGH	25	5	1-3	3-3	6	30
MONTREAL	37	1	0-3	2-3	6	33

MY 3 STARS OF THE GAME

GAMES 1^ST STAR: Sidney Crosby, C – PIT, 1 Goals, 3 Assists

GAMES 2^ND STAR: Jake Guentzel, C – PIT, 2 Goals, 2 Assists

GAME 3^RD STAR: Matt Murray, G – PIT, 36 Saves, .973 SV%

SCORING SUMMARY

1ST PERIOD 0:21 Penguins Sidney Crosby (29) Assists: Jake Guentzel, Jared McCann 1 0 4:38 Penguins Evgeni Malkin (21) (Power Play) Assists: Sidney Crosby, Phil Kessel 2 0 8:51 Penguins Jake Guentzel (30) Assists: Sidney Crosby 3 0

2ND PERIOD 6:24 Penguins Jake Guentzel (31) Assists: Sidney Crosby, Erik Gudbranson 4 0 7:20 Canadiens Brendan Gallagher (29) Assists: Phillip Danault 4 1

3RD PERIOD 18:36 Penguins Jared McCann (14) Assists: Marcus Pettersson, Jake Guentzel 5 1

FINAL SCORING SUMMARY

FINAL	1	2	3	T
Pittsburgh	3	1	1	5

PITTSBURGH PENGUINS

PLAYER	POS	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	SOG	SHF	TOI	EV	PP	SH	PP	SH	HT	BS	FW	FL	FO%
Casey DeSmith	G	0	0	0		0	0		0:00	0:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Matt Murray	G	0	0	0		0	0		60:00	50:18	4:23	5:19	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Justin Schultz	D	0	0	0	E	0	1	29	24:29	21:14	3:05	0:10	0	0	1	-	-	-	-
Zach Trotman	D	0	0	0	E	0	0	23	14:18	12:29	0:00	1:49	0	0	2	5	-	-	-
Matt Cullen	C	0	0	0	E	0	1	22	13:06	10:23	0:00	2:43	0	0	-	-	7	5	58
Garrett Wilson	LW	0	0	0	E	0	0	14	9:01	9:01	0:00	0:00	0	0	-	1	-	-	-
Dominik Simon	LW	0	0	0	E	0	0	20	12:57	11:57	1:00	0:00	0	0	3	-	-	-	-
Jared McCann	C	1	1	2	+4	0	2	25	16:04	14:29	0:00	1:35	0	0	1	1	0	1	0
Nick Bjugstad	C	0	0	0	E	0	2	21	14:40	13:42	0:58	0:00	0	0	3	1	5	11	31
Marcus Pettersson	D	0	1	1	+3	2	1	31	20:07	16:50	1:00	2:17	0	0	-	3	-	-	-
Erik Gudbranson	D	0	1	1	+3	0	1	29	20:27	17:05	0:00	3:22	0	0	1	1	-	-	-
Zach Aston-Reese	LW	0	0	0	-1	0	1	23	15:32	13:30	0:00	2:02	0	0	2	2	0	1	0
Juuso Riikola	D	0	0	0	E	0	1	24	14:53	12:46	1:18	0:49	0	0	2	-	-	-	-
Teddy Blueger	C	0	0	0	E	0	3	18	10:33	8:50	0:00	1:43	0	0	2	-	-	-	-
Jake Guentzel	LW	2	2	4	+4	0	3	26	17:35	15:28	1:00	1:07	0	0	3	-	-	-	-
Evgeni Malkin	C	1	0	1	-1	0	2	21	17:07	13:29	3:25	0:13	1	0	1	-	5	2	71
Patric Hornqvist	RW	0	0	0	E	0	1	18	14:52	11:29	3:23	0:00	0	0	2	-	-	-	-
Jack Johnson	D	0	0	0	E	2	1	29	22:34	20:23	0:00	2:11	0	0	1	5	-	-	-
Phil Kessel	RW	0	1	1	-1	2	2	20	16:39	13:16	3:23	0:00	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Sidney Crosby	C	1	3	4	+4	0	3	27	19:06	14:28	3:23	1:15	0	0	1	1	13	13	50

MONTREAL CANADIENS

PLAYER	POS	G	A	P	+/-	PIM	SOG	SHF	TOI	EV	PP	SH	PP	SH	HT	BS	FW	FL	FO%
Carey Price	G	0	0	0		0	0		56:14	46:32	5:19	4:23	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Antti Niemi	G	0	0	0		0	0		0:00	0:00	0:00	0:00	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Shea Weber	D	0	0	0	-1	0	4	27	21:46	15:46	3:01	2:59	0	0	-	-	-	-	-
Jordie Benn	D	0	0	0	E	0	1	25	19:11	16:12	0:00	2:59	0	0	2	2	-	-	-
Brendan Gallagher	RW	1	0	1	-1	2	5	23	18:47	16:06	2:41	0:00	0	0	1	-	1	0	100
Max Domi	LW	0	0	0	-1	0	6	22	18:55	16:35	2:19	0:01	0	0	-	1	2	6	25
Jesperi Kotkaniemi	C	0	0	0	E	0	2	18	14:39	12:00	2:39	0:00	0	0	3	-	5	5	50
Brett Kulak	D	0	0	0	-1	0	2	18	15:24	15:22	0:01	0:01	0	0	2	1	-	-	-
Nate Thompson	C	0	0	0	-1	0	3	19	10:15	7:39	0:00	2:36	0	0	2	-	7	5	58
Dale Weise	RW	0	0	0	E	0	0	13	7:35	7:35	0:00	0:00	0	0	3	-	-	-	-
Phillip Danault	C	0	1	1	-1	0	3	26	17:43	15:38	0:21	1:44	0	0	1	-	13	9	59
Jeff Petry	D	0	0	0	-1	2	0	26	23:43	20:14	2:06	1:23	0	0	2	2	-	-	-
Christian Folin	D	0	0	0	-1	0	0	19	13:51	13:46	0:04	0:01	0	0	5	1	-	-	-
Joel Armia	RW	0	0	0	-1	0	2	21	15:43	12:47	0:22	2:34	0	0	3	-	0	1	0
Paul Byron	LW	0	0	0	E	0	1	22	16:57	14:33	2:24	0:00	0	0	1	-	-	-	-
Victor Mete	D	0	0	0	-2	0	0	30	23:10	18:22	3:25	1:23	0	0	1	1	-	-	-
Artturi Lehkonen	LW	0	0	0	-1	0	1	21	10:14	8:20	0:04	1:50	0	0	2	-	-	-	-
Andrew Shaw	RW	0	0	0	-1	2	1	23	17:32	15:24	2:07	0:01	0	0	6	-	5	3	62
Tomas Tatar	LW	0	0	0	-2	0	5	23	16:54	13:54	3:00	0:00	0	0	2	1	0	1	0
Jonathan Drouin	LW	0	0	0	-1	0	1	22	16:23	14:22	2:01	0:00	0	0	2	-	-	-	-

GOALTENDING

PITTSBURGH
	Shots	Saves	GA	SV %	PIM	TOI
Matt Murray W (20-10-3)	37	36	1	.973	0	60:00

MONTREAL
	Shots	Saves	GA	SV %	PIM	TOI
Carey Price L (27-19-5)	24	20	4	.833	0	56:14