Hockey

Novak scores in overtime as Penguins recover to beat Canadiens

Tommy Novak scored his second goal of the game 1:33 into overtime for Pittsburgh.

Cole Harrington · Editor-in-Chief
October 4, 2026 · More from this writer

PITTSBURGH · Tommy Novak scored his second goal of the game 1:33 into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 6-5 win over the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night at PPG Paints Arena. Novak won it on a wrist shot from the right circle off a pass from Evgeni Malkin on a 2-on-1, rescuing the Penguins after they blew a four-goal lead. "Anytime you kind of give up a lead like that, it feels good to come through with the two points," Novak said. "That's huge." Malkin had a goal and two assists, while Arturs Silovs made 20 saves for Pittsburgh. Nick Suzuki had a goal and three assists for Montreal, and Cole Caufield scored twice.

The Canadiens, who won their season opener on Tuesday, were seeking to start a season with two wins for the first time since 2015-16. Caufield opened the scoring at 3:49 of the first period. Malkin tied it 1-1 on a power play at 14:07, scoring for the second time in the first two games of his 21st NHL season. Declan Carlile, Samuel Girard, Novak and Ben Kindel then scored in a four-goal second period for Pittsburgh, which outshot Montreal 23-5 during a 25-minute stretch to build a 5-1 lead.

Suzuki started Montreal's comeback with a backhand goal at 18:46 of the second period. Caufield made it 5-3 with a wrist shot at 3:31 of the third. With goaltender Jakub Dobes pulled for an extra attacker, Suzuki then set up two goals in 24 seconds late in the third period to force overtime. He first found Chris Kreider for a one-timer to cut the deficit to 5-4 with 1:08 left, then sent a pass through the crease to Ivan Demidov at the right post to tie the game 5-5 with 44 seconds remaining.

"We're a skilled enough team to score in those situations and get a point," Suzuki said. "We have to clean some stuff up, obviously." Montreal coach Martin St. Louis said his team got away from a simple game. "Once the brain goes, it's hard to prevent stuff," St. Louis said. "That's why you want to play a much simpler game. We got a little stubborn with that because we know what we can do in possession." Kreider acknowledged the self-inflicted problems. "We were playing pond hockey at times, turning the puck over," Kreider said. "Any team is going to jump on those turnovers, especially that team."

Malkin's assist on the winner gave him 1,411 career points, passing Dale Hawerchuk for 22nd place in NHL history. Sidney Crosby had an assist, the 1,109th of his career, tying Joe Thornton for seventh-most in league history. Kindel returned from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss the season opener and scored a power-play goal. "Some good, some bad," Kindel said. "Obviously, the first game coming back here, I felt like it kind of took a little bit to get going. But started making some plays, but still some stuff to work on as well." Penguins coach Dan Muse said there were things to clean up. "I think any game you're going to have things that you're going to look back on," Muse said. "There's some more things to clean up after tonight, for sure."

Franchise icon Mario Lemieux took part in a ceremonial puck drop to celebrate the Penguins' 60th season. Forward Andrei Kuzmenko made his Penguins debut after taking a leave of absence on Sept. 24 to mourn the death of his father. Montreal defenceman Alexandre Carrier left in the second period with an undisclosed injury and no update was provided. Up next: The Penguins host the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. The Canadiens begin a four-game homestand Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes.

With files from The Globe and Mail, Yahoo Sports and TSN