Malkin scores 499th goal, Penguins rally past Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Evgeni Malkin scored his 499th NHL goal and had two assists for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 6-3 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Monday.

Malkin scored his first goal of the season into an empty net at 18:50 of the third period for the 6-3 final. The 38-year-old center is one away from becoming the 48th player in NHL history to score 500 goals.

It was the third straight multipoint game for Malkin, who got his 1,300th point in a 4-2 loss at the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday.

“I don’t know if there is extra motivation, I just think he has a different mindset than he used to have,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “He seems to play a lot better defensively, he’s more engaged. He’s fun to watch.”

Penguins captain Sidney Crosby did not have a point and remains one away from becoming the 10th player in NHL history to reach 1,600 points.

Lars Eller scored twice, and Tristan Jarry made 24 saves for Pittsburgh (2-2-0), which won for the second time in a three-game road trip.

“We played better with the puck and without the puck in the third,” Eller said. “But it was a close game, and we’re really happy to go 2-1 here on the road and try to go home and get some more wins.”

Nick Suzuki and Mike Matheson each had two assists, and Sam Montembeault made 25 saves for Montreal (2-2-0), which had allowed one goal while winning its first two home games.

“I think we didn’t have the best start,” Montembeault said. “They came out hard, the first 10 minutes, they were playing really well. And then after that we found our game, we were just building and then the second period was really good. The third goal, I’ve got to make that save late in the second. We could have had the chance to go into the locker room up 3-2, but that made a big difference, and they got some good bounces in the third and they ended up with the win.”

Eller gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 6:54 of the first period. He drove past Canadiens defenseman David Savard to take Jesse Puljujarvi’s pass in the slot and scored on a wrist shot.

Rickard Rakell made it 2-0 at 16:49 when he snapped a one-timer past Montembeault stick side on Malkin’s pass from behind the net.

Kaiden Guhle cut it to 2-1 at 18:16 with a one-timer from the right point on a pass from Matheson.

Juraj Slafkovsky tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal at 2:51 of the second period. He was on the left edge of the crease to redirect Suzuki’s pass from the slot.

Emil Heineman put Montreal up 3-2 at 14:26. He drove the left side on a 2-on-1 and fired a shot past Jarry’s glove to score for a second straight game.

Eller tied it 3-3 at 16:23 with the first of four Straight Pittsburgh goals when he sped around Slafkovsky and scored on a wrist shot through the five-hole from the left face-off circle.

“I don’t have a good explanation for why it was up and down like that,” Eller said. “But we were able to turn it around in the third and we were able to bring our best game in the last 20 [minutes], which I don’t think we maybe did the last couple of games to the same extent. But this was a close game going into the third and we were able to improve and create some offense.”

Kevin Hayes put the Penguins ahead for the second time 4-3 at 7:47 of the third period when he put away a rebound from the left edge of the crease.

Letang scored at 11:32 to make it 5-3.

“We made more mistakes than them today,” Slafkovsky said. “I guess that’s all it is. I felt like we played pretty good, we played pretty hard. Our own mistakes, like, so many odd-man rushes for them, and it’s hard because they have good players that can score goals.”

NOTES: Malkin is the second active player to have three consecutive multi-point games at age 38 or older. Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals was 38 when he had a four-game multi-point streak last season. Malkin is third Penguins player to accomplish the feat, joining Mark Recchi (2006-07) and Ken Schinkel (1971-72). … Slafkovsky’s goal was his 64th NHL point, tying Guy Lafleur for the sixth-most points by a Canadiens player before the age of 21. He trails Mario Tremblay (112), Alex Galchenyuk (93), Henri Richard (87), Stephane Richer (76) and Petr Svaboda (66).