Eller scored 2 goals, Malkin had a goal and 2 assists as the Penguins defeated the Canadiens 6-3

MONTREAL (AP) — Lars Eller scored two goals against his former team, Evgeni Malkin had a goal and two assists and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Montreal Canadiens 6-3 on Monday night.

Kris Letang, Kevin Hayes and Rickard Rakell also scored for Pittsburgh, and Tristan Jarry stopped 24 shots.

Sidney Crosby remained on the scoresheet, leaving him one point shy of 1,600 points. The 37-year-old wants to become the tenth player in NHL history to reach this mark.

Kaiden Guhle, Juraj Slafkovsky and Emil Heineman were screenwriters for Montreal. Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each had two assists and Sam Montembeault made 26 saves.

Takeaways

Penguins: Eller scored both goals – his first points of the season – with great wrist shots. The 35-year-old from Denmark played for the Canadiens from 2010 to 2016.

Canadiens: Slafkovsky's first goal of the season gave the Canadiens a power-play goal for the fourth straight game. Rookie Lane Hutson didn't score a point, but fans cheered every time he touched the puck, and the cheers only grew louder with each play, including a nifty deke around Crosby late in the second period.

Key moment

Hayes gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead with 12:13 to play. The 32-year-old striker was all alone up front before firing a rebound past Montembeault. Four minutes later, Letang doubled the lead.

Key statistics

15:30 – that's how long it took for the Canadiens to register their first shot on goal. Fans cheered sarcastically two minutes earlier when Jake Evans sent a dump-in toward the net, but the Canadiens were not credited with a shot.

Next

The Penguins host Buffalo on Wednesday night to open a two-game homestand and the Canadiens host Los Angeles on Thursday to close a three-game home stretch.

___

AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL