Pittsburgh — As reporters surrounded his locker stall inside the cramped Bell Centre visitors’ dressing room on Saturday, Sidney Crosby swatted away the idea like an old-school NBA center.

Two points to pass Mario Lemieux’s career points record? Those weren’t the two that had Crosby’s attention.

“It’s more about winning hockey games,” Crosby said. “With the way things have gone, just want to get a win.”

Surely both will work. Crosby had a goal and an assist Sunday to tie and pass Lemieux, and the Penguins snapped their eight-game losing streak with a 4-3 shootout victory over the Montreal Canadiens at PPG Paints Arena.

Yes, in the shootout. The Penguins improved to 1-5 in that facet, as Kevin Hayes and Rickard Rakell scored goals in the decisive session. Arturs Silovs made a big stop on Nick Suzuki to end it.

Crosby got the history part of out of the way in the first period. Then, in the third, more drama unfolded.

The Penguins blew another lead in the final 20 minutes, as Noah Dobson scored early and the Penguins were forced to hang on during a frenetic overtime.

The win is the first for the Penguins (15-11-9) since Dec. 4 in Tampa, Fla. And it happened with a thorough performance against the Canadiens, who handed the Penguins a 4-0 loss just 24 hours earlier in Montreal.

Pittsburgh felt it found something in that game, a recipe it hoped to replicate back on home ice. The third period notwithstanding, it was a solid effort from the home team, which has one more game before its Christmas break.

Arturs Silovs started in goal and snapped his own personal skid, stopping 23 of 26 shots to earn his first win since Nov. 6.

Crosby’s offensive heroics were the big story, but Noah Acciari scored an impressive one of his own to deliver a 3-2 lead for the Penguins at 11:51 of the second period.

Kris Letang lofted a stretch pass over everyone. Acciari picked it up and rifled a shot from the left circle over the glove of Canadiens goaltender Jakub Dobes.

A similarly impressive pass led to right wing Ivan Demidov’s goal to force a 2-2 tie earlier in the frame, as left wing Juraj Slafkovsky sent the puck sailing the width of the ice before Demidov blasted one from the right circle at 3:54.

While the first period belonged to Crosby, it started with an impressive display of tic-tac-toe passing that ended in a goal from Canadiens center Oliver Kapanen at 7:31.

Demidov controlled the puck for a long stretch, as Ryan Shea’s stick broke. Demidov passed to Slafkovsky in the slot, who one-touched a pass backdoor to the left post, giving Kapanan a terrific look that he didn’t miss.

The Crosby goal was typical of him. From the slot, Crosby tipped a shot pass from Erik Karlsson to create a 1-1 tie at 7:58. Not only did it create a tie with Lemieux, but it also gave Crosby his 18th 20-goal season. Only six players in the history of the NHL have more.

Lemieux and Crosby shared the lead for fewer than five minutes, as the current Penguins’ captain picked up a secondary assist on Rakell’s power-play goal that gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead at 12:40 of the first. Crosby’s slapper from atop the left circle clanked off Bryan Rust and right to Rakell, who finished for his first goal since Oct. 23.

It was over when …

Silovs sprawled out to deny Suzuki in the third round of the shootout, which the Penguins won 2-1.

Stat of the game

11: Consecutive losses in the second half of back-to-backs (0-7-4) before the Penguins won on Sunday. It had been their longest such stretch in more than 42 years, per team historian Bob Grove.

Around the boards

— Coach Dan Muse made a couple changes to his lineup on Sunday, swapping Connor Clifton for Jack St. Ivany on the third defense pair and turning to Silovs in net.

— A sneaky important part of the game came shortly before Rakell’s goal. Karlsson turned the puck over, and right wing Josh Anderson took off the other way on a shorthanded breakaway. Silovs made the type of save that too often recently has eluded him.

— Shortly after Crosby’s goal, a congratulatory video message from Lemieux was played inside PPG Paints Arena. Mario said: “Hey, Sid. Congratulations on passing me with 1,724 points. I knew when we played together in 2005 that you were gonna be a very special player and accomplish a lot of great things in your career. Here we are 20 years later, you’re now one of the best to ever play the game. You’ve been a great ambassador for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the National Hockey League and the hockey world. I just would like to wish you all the best the rest of the way. And again, congratulations. Well done, my friend.”

— Letang now has six goals and 22 points in 24 career home games against Montreal.

— Crosby, meanwhile, has points in 17 of his last 22 against Montreal, piling up nine goals and 23 assists in that span.

Up next

The Penguins have a travel day on Monday. They’ll play in Toronto on Tuesday afternoon before the NHL’s Christmas break.

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