Allen, Canadiens end Penguins winning streak at five

PITTSBURGH -- Jake Allen made an NHL career-high 47 saves to help the Montreal Canadiens hand the Pittsburgh Penguins their first loss in six games, 6-3 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

Allen's previous high in the regular season was 46 saves for the St. Louis Blues in a 4-3 overtime loss to the Chicago Blackhawks on Oct. 13, 2018. He made 51 saves for the Blues in a 2-1 overtime win against the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of the Western Conference First Round on April 12, 2017.
"It was just a matter of getting some positive vibes going back home," Allen said. "I thought it was a crucial game for us. Obviously, we've been down in the dumps a little bit as a group, and not playing our best hockey. I just thought it was an important game to play well with a lot of effort, and most importantly, get the win."
The Canadiens (6-15-2), who lost six of their previous seven, scored five goals in the third period, three into an empty net. They were coming off a 4-1 loss at the Buffalo Sabres on Friday.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and two assists for his first multipoint game of the season, and Casey DeSmith made 28 saves in his first start since Nov. 13 for the Penguins (10-7-4).
Pittsburgh had outscored opponents 16-2 during the five straight wins, which represented the longest active streak in the NHL. Tristan Jarry had three shutouts, including a 1-0 win at the New York Islanders on Friday, and allowed one goal in each of the other two games.
"Give [Allen] credit. He played really well," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "We threw a lot of pucks at him tonight. We could've had a little bit more net traffic and made his sightlines more difficult, but we could probably say that most nights. That's something that we're always striving to get better at."
Jonathan Drouin put the Canadiens ahead 1-0 on a breakaway. After a pass from Crosby hopped over teammate Kris Letang's stick, Drouin took it the other way before scoring with a backhand through the five-hole at 15:34 of the second period.
"We're obviously not having the year we want," Drouin said. "We have to keep it simple. Be patient. When we get our chances, we get our chances."

Evan Rodrigues tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 2:33 of the third period before Christian Dvorak gave Montreal a 2-1 lead 32 seconds later. Dvorak tipped in a pass from Sami Niku in front at 3:05.
"You can't always answer with scoring a goal back," Canadiens coach Dominque Ducharme said. "But you can have a good shift and get momentum back right away. But obviously, doing that and getting rewarded with a goal is huge, for sure. That's a good way to react."
Rodrigues came close to tying it again when a rebound from Crosby came to him in the low slot, but Allen made a glove save on his wrist shot at 5:38.
"We had 50 shots. We controlled O-zone time," said Rodrigues, who had an NHL career high 12 shots on goal. "Just didn't get the two points. … I didn't think [Allen] would be able to get there. He makes an unbelievable save."
Artturi Lehkonen scored for the third time in four games, making it 3-1 with a snap shot from the slot at 6:16.
Jeff Carter cut it to 3-2 with 2:37 remaining, but Josh Anderson scored an empty-net goal to make it 4-2 with 1:41 left.
Crosby scored on a one-timer to pull the Penguins within 4-3 with 1:10 remaining.
"We had our opportunities," said Crosby, the Pittsburgh captain. "It was just hard for us to get a lead and gain momentum. So I think we did some good things, but we still weren't probably as sharp as we could've been."
Anderson was credited with another empty-net goal to make it 5-3 after being tripped by Letang on a breakaway with 48 seconds remaining.
Tyler Toffoli scored Montreal's third empty-net goal with 37 seconds left for the 6-3 final.
NOTES: During the game, the Canadiens announced Scott Mellanby resigned as assistant general manager. Mellanby was promoted to that position in 2014 after joining Montreal as director of player personnel in May 2012. … Toffoli played his 600th NHL game. … Montreal defenseman Chris Wideman did not play because of an upper-body injury. … Penguins forward Bryan Rust missed a second straight game after sustaining a lower-body injury in warmups Friday. … Pittsburgh forward Jake Guentzel had the secondary assist on Rodrigues' goal to extend his NHL career-high point streak to nine games (10 points; five goals, five assists). … Rodrigues had the third-most shots in a game in Penguins history. Ron Stackhouse had 14 in a 5-4 loss to the Washington Capitals on April 3, 1976, and Pierre Larouche had 13 in a 10-1 win against the Chicago Black Hawks on Feb. 21, 1976.