Rust scores hat trick, Rakell has 4 points for Penguins in win against Canadiens

MONTREAL -- Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell each had four points for the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 9-2 win against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Thursday.

Rust had three goals and an assist, Rakell had two goals and two assists, and Sidney Crosby had three assists as Pittsburgh’s top line combined for 11 points.

“They do feel nice, but obviously at the end of the day it is just one game,” Rust said about the lopsided result. “But it is nice for everybody’s confidence to see a lot of pucks go in the net.”

Kris Letang had a goal and an assist, Matt Grzelcyk had two assists, and Tristan Jarry made 21 saves for the Penguins (13-14-4), who have won six of their past eight games.

“I think as a team, you still have to develop all those different things that come with winning and being consistent,” Crosby said. “And we’ve been doing it lately, and it’s something that we’ve been building on. So, that’s something that needs to continue. It’s a process, it doesn’t happen overnight, but we’re giving ourselves a chance and it’s way more fun to play when it’s that way.”

Nick Suzuki and Joel Armia scored for Montreal (11-15-3), which allowed six goals in the third period.

“I’m still trying to think about what just happened,” Suzuki said. “I don’t know who that was out there, and it was embarrassing by us.”

Sam Montembeault allowed six goals on 26 shots before he was replaced by Cayden Primeau at 8:41 of the third period, who allowed three goals on seven shots in relief.

“I think every play matters in this League,” Canadiens coach Martin St. Louis said. “There’s not one action on the ice that can’t affect the outcome of the game, and those actions got away from us in the third.”

Suzuki gave the Canadiens a 1-0 lead at 2:12 of the first period. He went forehand to backhand around Jarry to finish off a 2-on-1 rush with Cole Caufield, who carried the puck into the offensive zone after cutting off Letang’s cross-ice pass inside Montreal’s blue line.

Rakell tied it 1-1 with a power-play goal at 4:18. He redirected Letang’s centering pass from the left corner under Montembeault’s left pad from the edge of the crease.

Rust put the Penguins up 2-1 at 10:03 of the second. After taking a pass from Crosby, he went wide around Montreal defenseman Mike Matheson and drove out front from the left corner to jam the puck under Montembeault’s left pad.

Rust then made it 3-1 at 13:27, beating Montembeault with a one-timer from below the right circle off a no-look backhanded pass from Rakell.

Armia cut it to 3-2 at 14:36 with a one-timer from the left face-off dot on a pass from Emil Heineman.

Rakell made it 4-2 at 4:40 of the third when he tipped Rust’s centering pass from the left corner.

Letang pushed it to 5-2 with Pittsburgh’s second power-play goal at 7:42.

“I think we scored at key moments,” Letang said. “They came with some flurries, here and there, some big pushes in the first and in the second. But we stayed calm and I thought we scored key goals at key moments.”

After Anthony Beauvillier scored to make it 6-2 at 8:41 and chase Montembeault, Rust completed his hat trick to make it 7-2 when he found a loose puck in the right circle and beat Primeau with a snap shot at 11:56.

“We’re obviously proud of the group,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “I thought we competed hard. I think it was a lot closer game than the score indicated. For a lot of the game, it was a close game. Montreal’s a good team. They’re a proud team. I think what broke it open, and I said it to the guys after the game, was that fifth goal we got on the power play in the third period. That was a really important goal for us.

“And we talk about power-play statistics and things of that nature, but for me one of the big attributes of a good power play is the timing of when they score goals. And that was an example of it. So that’s what our groups are capable of, both power-play groups, and for me that was an important one for us.”

Matt Nieto made it 8-2 at 14:20, and Noel Acciari scored for the 9-2 final at 18:42.

“I don’t think we quit, I just think mentally we started doing things that we know we can’t do, and they capitalized,” Suzuki said. “And it just felt like every little mistake we did there in the third turned into a goal, and we definitely put that on ourselves.”

NOTES: Rust’s hat trick was his sixth, the most by a Penguins player since he entered the NHL in 2014-15. Crosby and Jake Guentzel each have five over that span. … Crosby, who has 1,026 assists, moved past Gordie Howe (1,023 assists for the Detroit Red Wings) for the fifth-most all-time with one franchise. … Suzuki has 11 points (four goals, seven assists) during an eight-game point streak. … Lane Hutson ended his seven-game assist and point streaks, both records for a Montreal rookie defenseman. … Canadiens defenseman David Savard was a late scratch because of an upper-body injury. Jayden Struble took his place in the lineup.