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Christensen, Crosby score twice as Penguins defeat Canadiens

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) -- Thanks to Erik Christensen and Sidney Crosby, the Pittsburgh Penguins moved up in the standings.

Christensen and Crosby each scored two goals as the Penguins posted an important 6-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens.

Gary Roberts netted the eventual game-winner and goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves for Pittsburgh (40-21-10), which moved within four points of the idle New Jersey Devils for first place in the Atlantic Division and into fourth place in the Eastern Conference.

"We knew Montreal is battling for their lives, and we're in a pretty good position right now," Christensen said. "We've worked hard for it, and we don't want to be taken advantage of by not coming to the rink and playing hard."

The multi-goal game was the fifth of the season for Crosby, who leads the NHL with 75 assists and 106 points.

Crosby scored a spectacular goal at 4:28 of the first period, weaving his way through four defenders and snapping the puck past Montreal goaltender David Aebischer to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead.

"I just tried to split the defense and get a shot off and just try to drive through the middle," Crosby said. "There wasn't much going through my mind, except just breaking through there."

"He beat me in between my glove and my body, and that's usually never a good goal if you get beat there," Aebischer said. "He was 1-on-4, so I didn't think he could get a shot off but he did, and I should have stopped it."

The Penguins have won six of their last seven games.

"We just take it game by game and worry about ourselves, and the rest will take care of itself," Pittsburgh right wing Colby Armstrong said. "We've just got to keep playing. If we keep the right focus and keep moving a game at a time, I think everything will be fine."

Defenseman Sheldon Souray and Andrei Markov each had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens (35-31-6), who remained 11th in the East.

"We're battling for every point and that's what's frustrating about the loss," Montreal coach Guy Carbonneau said. "After four days when we were playing really well, we had them (Pittsburgh) on their heels. We made some little mistakes at the start of the game and in the third period and we had a tough time recovering.

"When you have a talented team like they have on the other side, they make you pay."