Penguins host Canadiens tonight; Dupuis expected back

David Perron scored the winning goal in a shootout to give the Penguins a 4-3 win over the Canadiens Wednesday night at the Consol Energy Center.

Perron, the first Pittsburgh shooter, connected on his backhand before Crosby clinched it. The two-time MVP made a series of quick dekes before putting a backhand shot over Mike Condon’s glove.

The Penguins dug in though, and got a third period goal from Patric Hornqvist to tie the game in regulation and Marc-Andre Fleury was ideal in the shootout to earn a come-from-behind 4-3 victory. He was clipped through his mask by the stick of teammate Ben Lovejoy and required stitches.

Brendan Gallagher celebrates his goal as he returns to the bench during the second period in Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night. The Canadiens have scored at least one power-play goal in each of their last seven games.

They are 10-3-2 in their past 15 games against the Montreal Canadiens dating to the start of the 2011-12 season (MTL: 5-5-5).

Backup Jeff Zatkoff made three saves in 2:10 of action before Fleury returned to the ice to finish the game. “We have to realize that everybody’s gunning for us and we’re going to have to play a full 60 minutes to beat any team”. Fleury got a piece of the shot but it bounced in off his right shoulder.

Penguins’ Phil Kessel, front, makes a backhand pass in the corner in front of Canadiens’ Alexei Emelin during the second period in Pittsburgh.

The Penguins won when trailing after two periods for the first time since January 5, 2014 at the Winnipeg Jets, halting a streak of 37 consecutive losses in that scenario.

The comeback win was a better feeling for Dupuis.

NOTES: Tomas Plekanec tied Jean-Claude Tremblay for 25th on the Canadiens’ career assists list…. Pittsburgh, which plays seven of its next nine at home, will host Columbus on Friday. They did it against a Montreal team that had outscored their opposition 23-8 in third periods of games.

However, one forward not producing is Alex Semin, who will be a healthy scratch for the seventh straight contest, so the speedy and gritty Brian Flynn will get another chance to stick alongside Alex Galchenyuk and Lars Eller. LW Sergei Plotnikov and D Adam Clendening sat out for Pittsburgh.