Dazzling goal by Penguins captain sparks comeback win over Montreal

PITTSBURGH - Sidney Crosby doesn't really have an explanation for how he does what he does.

He just does it.

So if you're looking for clarity on how the Pittsburgh Penguins captain managed to knock a pass out of the air and deflect it forward to the front of his stick before tapping it past one of the best goaltenders on the planet, look elsewhere.

"You try to finish plays out in practice," Crosby said after the 406th goal of his illustrious career beat Carey Price in a 5-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday night.

"Sometimes it works out that you can do it in a game, and sometimes it doesn't. Fortunately, it did tonight."

Montreal took a 3-2 lead on Jacob de la Rose's fourth goal of the season with just over five minutes left in the second period.

The advantage lasted less than a minute. Jake Guentzel chipped a pass to Crosby and the captain 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 alsorans Montreal and the New York Islanders.

"It was a huge goal for us," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. "It was an answer to the goal that they got to gain the lead. To go in after two periods with a tie score 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 two minutes to play.