With his 1,112th assist, all with the Penguins, Crosby moved one ahead of Ray Bourque, who had the first 1,111 of his 1,169 career assists with the Boston Bruins. An additional assist on Novak’s goal later in the period pushed his total to 1,113.
“Obviously I’ve been pretty fortunate to be a part of this organization for a really long time and it’s crazy how fast it goes,” said Crosby, the Pittsburgh captain. “But I’m definitely honored to be in that company.”
Oliver Kapanen tied it 1-1 at 2:41 with his first goal of the season, scoring with a one-timer past Murashov’s blocker from the left face-off circle.
Anderson put Montreal up 2-1 at 3:05, just 24 seconds after Kapanen tied it. He curled toward the right face-off dot after the puck came to him when Pittsburgh forward Hendrix Lapierre’s pass went off Kreider and shot past Murashov to the blocker side for the third goal in 57 seconds.
Novak tied it 2-2 at 7:28. He cut across the net front and slid the puck between Fowler’s pads on the backhand.
It appeared Montreal’s Cole Caufield scored a fifth goal in the first 9:26, but it was overturned after Pittsburgh challenged for goaltender interference.
Alexandre Texier did make it 3-2 for the Canadiens at 1:54 of the second period. Hutson spun around and sent a pass to the right edge of the crease to set up Texier, who deked around Murashov’s pad to score.
Kreider pushed it to 4-2 at 2:21. Murashov made a pad save on his initial shot, but Kreider stuck with it and scored with a backhand off the rebound.