PITTSBURGH (AP) for how he does what he does. He just does it.So if you’re looking for clarity on how the Pittsburgh Penguins star managed to knock a pass from Jake Guentzel out of the air http://www.officialducks.com/authentic-adidas-john-gibson-jersey , deflect it forward to the front of his stick before tapping it by one of the best goaltenders on the planet to spark his team to a 5-3 win over Montreal, look elsewhere.”You try to finish plays out in practice,” Crosby said after the 406th goal of his career, one unlike the 405 that came before it. ”Sometimes it works out that you can do it in the game and sometimes it doesn’t. Fortunately, it did today.”Montreal rallied from a two-goal deficit to take a 3-2 lead 14:24 into the third on Jacob de la Rose’s fourth goal of the season. The advantage lasted less than a minute. Guentzel chipped a pass to Crosby and Crosby did the rest.”Are you surprised, really?” said Price, who finished with 34 saves in his return after missing a month due to a concussion. ”It was a great play. I tried to hit it and he got it first, then he batted it back in. That’s pretty impressive.”And pretty necessary for the two-time defending Stanley Cup champions, who avoided dropping both games of a back-to-back against also-rans Montreal and the New York Islanders.”It was a huge goal for us Authentic Josh Manson Jersey ,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. ”It was an answer to the goal that they got to gain the lead to go in. To go in after two periods with a tie game was really important for us.”Derick Brassard put the Penguins in front to stay by beating Price 2:38 into the third period and Crosby became the third active player with 700 career assists when he set up Guentzel for an insurance goal with less than 2 minutes to play.”It was a weird second period but I think after the second we knew it was a big two points for us,” said Guentzel, who had a goal and two assists. ”We needed to come out in the third and I think we did that tonight.”Evgeni Malkin and Patric Hornqvist also scored for the Penguins, who drew within two points of idle first-place Washington in the Metropolitan Division. Casey DeSmith finished with 27 saves and happened to have a pretty good view of Crosby treating the puck like a yo-yo.”That was one of the cooler things I’ll see,” DeSmith said. ”It was perfect timing, too, right at the end of the second, get it right back, I think that was a huge goal.”Jonathan Drouin Ondrej Kase Jersey , Nikita Scherbak and Jacob de la Rose scored for the Canadiens but Montreal lost for the ninth time in 10 games.”It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, it sucks to lose,” Montreal forward Brendan Gallagher said. ”I don’t think anyone in here is happy with how it’s been going lately. You come to the rink everyday with the expectation that you’re going to win a hockey game and too many times, I think we’ve left disappointed. It’s been tough.”The Penguins are in the midst of a sluggish stretch in which they’ve mixed performances where they look very much like a team capable of winning a third straight Cup with clunkers like their 4-1 loss to the fading New York Islanders on Tuesday night. Sullivan chastised his players afterward for yet another lethargic start and lackluster play in the defensive end.Barely 24 hours later, the start was better after Malkin and Hornqvist gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead, but the play in their defensive zone was iffy at best.Drouin scored off the rush late in the first period to give the Canadiens momentum. Scherbak tied it 8:19 into the second with a gorgeous short-handed deke by DeSmith. Montreal briefly took the lead when de la Rose followed his own shot, skating by three guys in black sweaters to tap in his own rebound.Crosby, however, responded in a way few of his peers can.”You’re really sure what he’s going to do Rickard Rakell Jersey ,” Guentzel said. ”I think he amazes you every night.”NOTES: The game featured a rarity: two penalty shots. Price easily stopped Pittsburgh’s Derick Brassard in the first. DeSmith turned aside Gallagher in the second. … Pittsburgh is 9-6-2 in the second night of back-to-backs. … Montreal’s 24 road losses are a franchise record. … Linesman Steve Miller left late in the second period and missed several minutes after having his right hand gashed. Miller was back on the ice for the start of the third period.UP NEXTCanadiens: At Buffalo on Friday night. Montreal is 3-0 against the Sabres this season.Penguins: Host New Jersey on Friday night. The Devils have won the first two meetings this season.— LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alex Ovechkin’s one-timer from the left faceoff circle has been unstoppable this season for the Washington Capitals.The Russian forward scored a pair of power-play goals from his favorite spot as the Capitals beat the Los Angeles Kings 3-2 on Monday night.Ovechkin — who had his 10th multi-goal game this season — leads the NHL with 42 goals. He has scored a goal in three straight games and has 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the past eight games. He is on pace for 57 goals, which would be the second-most in his 14-year career. He scored 65 goals in 2007-08.“We play simple, smart and move the puck well,” Ovechkin said.According to NHL.com, Ovechkin has scored 24 goals this season from the left faceoff circle. The last three have been identical — a feed from John Carlson for a one-timer.“When we use our speed it makes it difficult on other teams,” said Carlson, who had two assists to go over 300 for his career. “We’re just trying to find our looks. It is going decent for us on the power play right now.”The Capitals are 4 of 13 on the power play during their six-game road trip, where they have split the first four games. They remain in second place in the Metropolitan Division with 73 points.Coach Todd Rierden was pleased with his team’s performance on special teams Womens Ryan Getzlaf Jersey , especially after they allowed two power-play goals in a 5-2 loss to Anaheim on Sunday night.“We knew going into the game that we had to play a fast game and regardless of it being back-to-back or not, we wanted to play that way and force them to defend and we were able to capitalize,” he said.Brett Connolly scored Washington’s other goal and Pheonix Copley made 26 saves for his third straight win.It was Washington’s first win at Staples Center since Dec. 14, 2005, and ends an eight-game losing streak.Alex Iafallo and Ilya Kovalchuk had third-period goals for Los Angeles, which is last in the Western Conference with 52 points and 0-3-2 in its last five.Dustin Brown had an assist for his 600th point while Jack Campbell stopped 18 shots.“They capitalized on their power play and that was the difference,” Kings coach Willie Desjardins said. “We had stuff going to the net that we could have had our tips but we just didn’t get them.”Washington opened the scoring midway through the first with a pair of goals 20 seconds apart. Ovechkin put the Capitals on the board at 10:48 on a slap shot from the left faceoff circle.Connolly quickly made it 2-0 at 11:08 when he deflected Andre Burakovsky’s wrist shot past Campbell for his 14th of the season. It was the quickest back-to-back goals the Capitals have scored this season, surpassing the 21-second margin that happened Oct. 4 at Pittsburgh.Ovechkin netted his 13th power-play goal at 5:27 of the second period. It was the sixth time the Capitals have had two or more power-play goals but the first since they had two in a Dec. 11 win at Detroit.Iafallo averted a shutout when the drove to the net and buried a cross-crease pass from Brown past Copley for his 13th of the season. Iafallo has scored in two straight games for only the second time this season.Kovalchuk scored his 13th of the season at 19:32 when the Kings brought on an extra skater.NOTES: Washington RW T.J. Oshie returned to the lineup after sustaining an upper-body injury during the second period at Anaheim on Sunday. … Carlson is the third defenseman in Capitals history to reach 300 assists. He joins Calle Johansson (361) and Scott Stevens (331). … Los Angeles G Jonathan Quick was available as a backup but did not play. He missed Saturday’s game against Boston due to illness. … The Kings have allowed a power-play goal in four of the past five games.UP NEXTCapitals: Continue their road trip on Thursday night at Toronto.Kings: Travel to Nashville on Thursday night to start a four-game road trip.