The Pittsburgh Penguins beat Montreal 5-4 on the road on Thursday to snap the Canadiens' four-game winning streak.

The Penguins' Evgeni Malkin finished the night with a goal and two assists, taking his tally for the season to 35 goals and 47 assists and a league-high 82 points.

"You want your best player to carry the team," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said. "Again, this is what Malkin did."

The win boosted the Penguins into a tie with New Jersey for the Atlantic Division lead.

Pittsburgh, still playing without standout center Sidney Crosby, took a 3-2 lead into the third period with goals from Ryan Whitney, Jarkko Ruutu and Ryan Malone. Montreal's two goals came from Saku Koivu and Christopher Higgins.

The Canadiens rallied to move 4-3 ahead early in the third through Michael Ryder and Roman Hamrlik before Malkin tied the score at 10:22 and Sergei Gonchar scored the game-winner with 9:02 left in the contest.

Whitney joined Malkin in finishing with a goal and two assists as Pittsburgh improved to 9-4-2 without Crosby.

"It kind of feels good to step up when your best player is out," Whitney said. "We have a lot of guys in this room doing that."

Penguins netminder Dany Sabourin had 17 saves for the victory.

Rick Nash had a goal in regulation and in the shootout to rally the Columbus Blue Jackets to a 3-2 road win over the Ottawa Senators.

The Carolina Hurricanes won a key Southeast Division contest with the Atlanta Thrashers, scoring a 5-3 home win behind Scott Walker's goal and two assists.

Miroslav Satan scored the game's only goal in the third period and Rick DiPietro made 32 saves to lead the New York Islanders to their sixth consecutive win, a 1-0 home victory over the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The San Jose Sharks scored twice in 42 seconds in the third period to beat the Philadelphia Flyers 3-1 and end a five-game losing streak. The loss was the ninth consecutive for Philadelphia.

Marco Sturm had the only goal of a shootout and the Boston Bruins beat the Florida Panthers 5-4 after trailing 4-2 in the second period.

Ales Kotalik scored twice in sparking the Buffalo Sabres to a 5-1 crushing of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Mason Raymond's shootout goal, plus one in regulation, keyed a 3-2 road win by the Vancouver Canucks over the Nashville Predators.

Reuters