MONTREAL — Josh Anderson scored twice and added an assist as the Montreal Canadiens held off the Pittsburgh Penguins 5–4 on Saturday, October 31, for their fifth consecutive victory.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring 2:08 into the game when Erik Karlsson converted on the power play. Montreal answered 33 seconds later through Oliver Kapanen, then took its first lead when Anderson scored at 3:05.
Tommy Novak tied the game for Pittsburgh later in the first period. The Canadiens then broke the 2–2 tie with two goals 27 seconds apart early in the second. Alexandre Texier scored at 1:54 before Chris Kreider made it 4–2 at 2:21.
Rickard Rakell pulled Pittsburgh within one, but Anderson restored Montreal’s two-goal advantage at 13:06 of the second period. Lane Hutson and Jake Evans assisted on the play.
Sidney Crosby scored in the third period to cut the deficit to 5–4, but the Penguins could not complete the comeback. Crosby finished with a goal and two assists. His assist on Karlsson’s opening goal gave him 1,112 with Pittsburgh, moving him past Ray Bourque for the most assists by an NHL player with one team, according to the league’s game report.
Jacob Fowler made 25 saves for Montreal. Sergei Murashov stopped 22 of 27 shots for Pittsburgh.
Anderson’s three-point night ended a six-game stretch without a point. Kreider added a goal and an assist, while Hutson recorded two assists.
The victory improved Montreal to 9–3–2. Pittsburgh fell to 5–7–2 after a second consecutive loss, including one in overtime.
Sources: NHL — Penguins-Canadiens game report, October 31, 2026: https://www.nhl.com/fr/news/penguins-canadiens-resume-du-match-31-oct-2026 Reuters — Josh Anderson, Canadiens edge Penguins: https://www.reuters.com/sports/nhl/josh-anderson-canadiens-edge-penguins--flm-2026-11-01/ Image: Michael Barera — Bell Centre August 2005, captured Aug. 2, 2005: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bell_Centre_August_2005.jpg Image license: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/