Sidney Crosby scores twice again, Penguins sink Habs

Sidney Crosby scored twice as the Pittsburgh Penguins topped the visiting Montreal Canadiens 3-1 on Saturday night.

Blake Lizotte had the other goal for the Penguins. Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves for his third career win over the Canadiens. Pittsburgh has now won back-to-back games for just the second time this season.

The Penguins have won five straight games against the Canadiens.

Christian Dvorak found the back of the net and Sam Montembeault stopped 21 shots for the Canadiens, who have lost three straight games.

Lizotte tallied an empty-netter with 45 seconds remaining in the third period for his first goal of the season, putting the finishing touches on the win.

Canadiens forward Juraj Slafkovsky left the game with just over three minutes left in the third period after taking a hit from Penguins forward Noel Acciari. Slafkovsky did not return to the contest.

Dvorak put home his own rebound at 5:32 of the third period for his first marker of the season to cut Pittsburgh's lead to 2-1.

Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead with 1:20 remaining in the second period, as Crosby wristed a shot glove-side past Montembeault for his fifth goal of the campaign and his 25th career goal against the Canadiens.

Crosby also had two goals in a 2-1 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday.

The two teams each had five shots on goal in the first period, but Pittsburgh held a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of action.

Crosby opened the scoring at 15:57 of the opening period, taking a Rickard Rakell feed and beating Montembeault high blocker side for his fourth marker of the season.

Penguins defenseman Kris Letang played in his 1,100th career game on Saturday. He is third all-time in games played for Pittsburgh behind Crosby (1,285 games) and Evgeni Malkin (1,158).

--Field Level Media