MONTREAL - Brandon Sutter scored his second goal of the game 52 seconds into overtime to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 7-6 Saturday night at the Bell Centre in a free-wheeling game which goaltenders Carey Price and Tomas Vokoun will be happy to forget.

"The best thing I can say about this game is that we came back and got a point," said Canadiens coach Michel Therrien. "This was a great game for the fans but this is the reason why coaches get gray hair."

The lead changed hands five times including twice in the third period. David Desharnais put the Canadiens ahead 5-4 but Chris Kunitz tied it with his second goal of the game and Sidney Crosby scored at 10:24 to put the Penguins on top at 10:24

"We showed character by coming back but that's not the way we want to play," said Desharnais. "We don't want to play a wide-open game like that but we fell behind by two goals asnd we had to open things up."

But Pittsburgh wasn't able to enjoy the lead for long because Brian Gionta scored his second goal of the game 30 later seconds to knot the score for the fifth time.

P.K. Subban scored with 7-10ths of a second remaining in the second period to pull the Canadiens even at 4-4. Brendan Gallagher took his own rebound behind the net and found Subban in front.

The Penguins scored three times in a span of 5:08 in the second period to take a 4-2 lead.

Kunitz tied the score at 2-2 when Crosby chased down his own rebound and found Kunitz in front at 7:58.

Matt Cooke gave Pittsburgh its first lead at 8 59 and then scored again at 13:05.

But a penalty to Tyler Kennedy opened the door for the Canadiens. The Penguins managed to kill the penalty but Kennedy was coming out of the box when Gionta redirected Francis Bouillon's shot from the blueline.

The Canadiens had taken a 2-1 lead at 4:14 of the second period when Gallagher went strong to the net. Vokoun stopped his shot but Max Pacioretty backhanded the rebound.

The Canadiens opened the scoring when Tomas Kaberle spotted Brandon Prust in front of the net. Vokoun managed to get his stick on Kaberle's pass from the side boards but Prust scored on the rebound at 5:41.

The Penguins got that one back when Brandon Sutter scored a power-play goal at 19:07. Kris Letang's shot from the point caromed off Alexei Emelin's skate and Sutter picked up the loose puck and beat Price from 30 feet out.

Captain Brian Gionta said the Canadiens had to put this game behind and get ready to face the Boston Bruins Sunday (7:30 p.m., TSN-Habs, RDS, TSN-690 Radio) in the first game of a five-game road. The Bruins took over first place in the Northeast Division Saturday with a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay. Montreal and Boston each have 30 points but the Bruins have played three fewer games.

phickey@montrealgazette.com

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