OT Win Gives Pens 7 Straight

Late in overtime, it looked like the Montreal Canadiens were hanging on for a tie. The streaking Pittsburgh Penguins wanted something better.

Alexei Kovalev scored with 29 seconds left in overtime after Kip Miller tied it late in the third period, and the Penguins won their seventh in a row by beating the Canadiens 3-2 Tuesday night.

"We just didn't want to tie and go home," said Kovalev, who has 14 goals in 30 games since the New York Rangers traded him to Pittsburgh. "We continued to put pressure on the defense, and look what happened."

Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist, giving the two-time NHL scoring champion 18 points in his last seven games and a league-high 77 for the season.

The Penguins' winning streak includes two victories over Montreal and is their longest since they won eight straight from Nov. 25-Dec. 9, 1995.

Kovalev pounced on the puck just above the crease after Jiri Slegr's shot from the left point ricocheted off German Titov. Before backup goaltender Frederic Chabot could react, Kovalev batted the puck into the net.

"As soon as the puck hit the stick it was in the net, and I was surprised it went in," Kovalev said. "I just went to the net and there was nobody there."

Chabot, subbing for the injured Jeff Hackett, had allowed only Jagr's 23rd goal until Miller one-timed a slap shot off Brad Werenka's pass between the goaltender's pads at 17:19 of the third.

"It's sad because we played a pretty good ame all around," said Chabot, making his first start and only his fourth appearance of the season.

Miller has seven goals in eight games. Until moving up to Jagr's No. 1 line, he had only three goals all season.

"This is all new to me," Miller said. "You just want to ride it as long as you can."

Vincent Damphousse had given Montreal a 2-1 lead at 7:57 of the third, sliding a rebound of Sergei Zholtok's shot inside the near post and past Tom Barrasso's outstretched glove.

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Jaromir Jagr had a goal and an assist. (AP)

"But we started running around a little bit with five minutes to go," Damphousse said. "It seemed like we weren't poised with the lead too much. We got rattled a little bit and started to get out of position."

Barrasso has allowed only three goals in three games since returning from a four-game layoff with a sprained neck. Backup goaltender Peter Skudra won the first four games of the winning streak.

Chabot, a journeyman who first broke in with Montreal in 1990-91 but has only a 3-6-4 career record, has allowed only five goals in four appearances this season. He was making his first start since March 10, 1998.

"The late goal in the third period was a bad goal," Canadiens coach Alain Vigneault said. "Chabot gave us everything he had, but their second and third goals were shots he could have had. He didn't, and we lost the game."

Jagr gave Pittsburgh the lead at 12:31 of the second, grabbing the puck as he skated across the slot to beat Chabot. Vladimir Malakhov tied it with a power-play goal at 18:48, a slap shot from the top of the right circle that inadvertently deflected off Pittsburgh defenseman Kevin Hatcher.

Montreal is 0-2-8 and Pittsburgh is 3-0-7 in overtime.

The crowd of 11,453 for Pittsburgh's eighth home game in 19 days was the Penguins' third smallest at the Civic Arena this season. The smallest was 10,292 on Nov. 10 against the New York Islanders.

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