Anderson's Halloween Tip-In Seals Montreal's Wild 5-4 Win Over Pittsburgh

Nine goals in three periods, four lead changes, and a Sidney Crosby third-period push that came up just short — Montreal held on for a 5-4 win over Pittsburgh on Saturday night. Josh Anderson was the story, finishing with 2 goals and an assist, including the tip-in at 13:06 of the second that proved to be the winner.

The game was decided in a frantic opening five minutes that set the tone for everything that followed. Erik Karlsson opened the scoring at 2:08 of the first with a slap shot — assisted by Sidney Crosby and Tommy Novak — giving Pittsburgh the early edge and shifting the score margin from even to 1-0. Montreal answered in 33 seconds flat. Oliver Kapanen tied it at 2:41, and then Josh Anderson put Montreal ahead at 3:05 off a snap shot, assisted by Chris Kreider. Pittsburgh clawed back through Tommy Novak's backhand at 7:28, with Crosby picking up his second point of the period. Four goals in under six minutes of hockey. Both teams looked like they'd forgotten what a defensive zone was.

The second period is where Montreal pulled away — and where the game was really won. Alexandre Texier made it 3-2 at 1:54, and then Chris Kreider added a backhand goal just 27 seconds later to push it to 4-2. Pittsburgh refused to fold: Rickard Rakell snapped one home at 3:45, assisted by Karlsson, to make it a one-goal game. But Anderson answered at 13:06 with a tip-in off feeds from Lane Hutson and Jake Evans, restoring the two-goal cushion at 5-3. That goal looks like the one that mattered most — Pittsburgh never got closer than one after that.

Crosby did what Crosby does, snapping one home at 16:49 of the third to make it 5-4 and give Pittsburgh a pulse, with Karlsson picking up his third point of the night on the assist. But Jacob Fowler held the door shut the rest of the way, finishing with 25 saves on 29 shots. Sergei Murashov stopped 22 of 27 for Pittsburgh. The goaltending numbers were fine on both ends — this game was lost and won in the skaters' end of the ice, where Montreal's second period burst appears to have been simply too much for Pittsburgh to overcome. Crosby, Karlsson, and Novak each finished with three points for the Penguins, but Pittsburgh came into this one already trying to bounce back from a Thursday loss, and a two-goal second-period deficit proved one hill too many.