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Letang gets revenge as Pens rally to down Habs in OT

Nov 27, 2011 - 3:46 AM Montreal, QC (Sports Network) - Bloodied by a hit late in regulation, Kris Letang came back to win the game.

Letang scored from in close 2:09 into overtime, lifting the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday.

The defenseman was blindsided by Montreal's Max Pacioretty on a hit not long after Jordan Staal scored to tie the game at 3-3 for Pittsburgh with 4:30 remaining in regulation.

Pacioretty took aim at Letang near the point and led with his shoulder on a hit to Letang's head. After falling to the ice, Letang was bleeding from his nose.

"I didn't see it," Letang said of the hit. "I was taking a shot and he was coming across so I didn't see it. But he apologized to me on the ice. He came over during a stoppage in play, we skated around and he apologized. A great gesture by him."

Letang was well enough to start a rush in overtime, then steal the puck from under Carey Price's glove after the Canadiens goaltender stopped a backhand from James Neal.

Letang drifted back with the puck and threw a shot past Price, who protested angrily that there might have been interference.

"The puck was in front. Me and Neal were digging for it," said Letang. "It became loose and I poked it in."

The goal gave the first-place Penguins a winning start to their four-game road trip, pushing their record to 3-0-1 since Sidney Crosby's return.

Crosby had an assist on Pittsburgh's first goal -- by Evgeni Malkin on a loose puck just 21 seconds into the game -- while Pascal Dupuis also lit the lamp in the win.

The Penguins scored three unanswered goals after falling behind 3-1 on Montreal goals by Travis Moen, Pacioretty and Erik Cole. Marc-Andre Fleury had 24 saves in the win, while Price made 38 stops for the Canadiens, who have lost three of four.

Pacioretty, who called his hit on Letang "unfortunate," said his team blew an assignment on the winning goal.

"It was just a bad goal," he said. "It's frustrating for us because we lost an assignment. We had a 3-1 lead and let it slip away."

Just 87 seconds after Malkin's goal in the first period, Moen scored on a wrister from the left circle to start a rally for the Canadiens, who had a 3-1 lead after Cole scored midway through the second.

Dupuis stopped the bleeding at 16:40 of the middle period when a puck came skipping into the slot and he fired it past Price. Staal's game-tying goal came after Malkin found him on a cross-ice pass and he got behind three defenders for an easy chance.

Game Notes

Montreal was 0-for-4 on the power play, while Pittsburgh went 0-for-3...Crosby had been out since January with concussion-related symptoms...Montreal won three out of four meetings last year, but the Penguins have captured both games this season.