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Penguins score early, defeat Canadiens

Sep 19, 2007 - 3:14 AM By Mark Lidbetter PA Sports Contributing Writer

MONTREAL (Ticker) -- The Pittsburgh Penguins scored on their first two shots of the night and cruised to a 5-2 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, a night after losing to the Canadiens in overtime the previous day.

Ryan Stone and Jeff Taffe scored at 32 seconds and 2:41, respectively, of the first period to give the Penguins a quick 2-0 lead that they would never give up.

Stone tucked the puck between Montreal goalie Jaroslav Halak and the left post on a rebound off the back boards from right winger Jonathan Filewich's shot to give the Pens a 1-0 advantage. Taffe provided the second Penguins' goal on a shot from just inside the Canadiens' blue line. Halak dropped early and the puck sailed over his right shoulder making it 2-0 for Pittsburgh.

Montreal got one back on the power play when center Bryan Smolinski came up with the puck during a goal mouth scramble, went to his back hand and flicked the puck over Penguins goalie Dany Sabourin at 5:57 of the second period.

After Saku Koivu again cut the Penguins lead to one early in the third period, Evgeni Malkin jumped out of the penalty box and received a tape-to-tape pass from Dustin Geoffery. The Penguins center raced in and wristed home a shot to give Pittsburgh a two-goal advantage.

Tyler Kennedy scored with three minutes remaining for the Penguins to cap the scoring.

Pittsburgh forward Sidney Crosby, who played the night before, did not dress for the game.