PITTSBURGH - On a memorable night Sidney Crosby played like a mature 40-year-old rather than an 18-year-old kid and Mario Lemieux looked 18 rather than 40, but the Penguins were reminded that no lead is safe.
Glen Murray's second goal, a one-timer as a Pittsburgh penalty was expiring 1 minute, 23 seconds into overtime, rallied Boston from a two-goal deficit as it won 7-6 Saturday night, spoiling Crosby's first career goal and Lemieux's first multigoal game since February 2003.
"It's a different game we're playing now," Lemieux said. "It's a lot more skating and a lot less scrapping, and I think it's great."
Except, he added, when the Penguins lose on what otherwise was a historic night for the franchise, with Crosby delighting the standing-room crowd with his first goal and two assists for his first multipoint game. He has a team-high five points through three games.
"It's something you dream about, scoring in the NHL," Crosby said. "There's a lot of emotion that comes out of that. But it would have been nice if we had finished it off."
Instead, the Bruins took 41 shots against Sebastien Caron, who was in goal for the Penguins' 3-2 shootout loss at Carolina on Friday, then unexpectedly started again when Jocelyn Thibault injured his left knee during the morning skate Saturday.
Murray had two goals and two assists as Boston won despite trailing 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, 4-2, 5-4 and 6-4 behind goalie Hannu Toivonen in his first start. The winner on a hard shot from the left circle came as defenseman Dick Tarnstrom was coming out of the box after being called for tripping late in the third period.
Commissioner Gary Bettman and an overflow crowd of 17,132 were in attendance for Crosby's first home game, and the NHL's most-awaited prospect in a generation didn't disappoint. Crosby made two excellent plays to set up goals by Ric Jackman and Brooks Orpik, then got the goal he will remember the rest of his career.
With Pittsburgh up 5-4 and on a power play late in the second, Crosby threw the puck on net, then raced in to gather the rebound after failed follow-up attempts by Mark Recchi and Ziggy Palffy. He shot into the side of the net before goalie Hannu Toivonen could react.
THRASHERS 8, CAPITALS 1: Peter Bondra got the best of his former team on consecutive nights, scoring twice and adding an assist to lead host Atlanta. Bondra has nine points against the Capitals, who traded him to Ottawa in February 2004 following a 14-year career with Washington.
The win completed a successful day for Atlanta, which re-signed Ilya Kovalchuk to a five-year contract worth about $32-million. He could play Wednesday at Montreal.
AVALANCHE 3, STARS 2: Marek Svatos scored on a power-play rebound with 1:57 left for visiting Colorado. Svatos got his first goal of the season on a scramble in front of the net with 2:09 left on a seven-minute power play that resulted from minor penalties assessed to Dallas' Bill Guerin and Jason Arnott, who also received a game misconduct for instigation. SENATORS 5, SABRES 0: Dominik Hasek had 35 saves for his 64th career shutout, and first since Nov.10, 2003, and Wade Redden had a goal and two assists to lead host Ottawa. Chris Neil added two power-play goals.
CANADIENS 5, MAPLE LEAFS 4: Mike Ribeiro scored with 4:27 left to lead visiting Montreal to its third straight road win and first 3-0-0 start in 27 years. Ribeiro tapped in a cross-ice pass from defenseman Andrei Markov for the winner.
ISLANDERS 3, HURRICANES 2: Miroslav Satan got his first goal in a New York jersey and Rick DiPietro made 42 saves for the host. Satan flung a shot toward the net from the right boards. Carolina goalie Cam Ward deflected it up with a skate save, and defenseman Oleg Tverdovsky tried to clear it with two swipes of his stick. The second put the puck in and gave New York a 2-1 lead 5:39 into the third.
DEVILS 3, RANGERS 2 (OT): Brian Rafalski scored at 3:17 of overtime for host New Jersey. Trailing 2-1 in the third, Alexander Mogilny tied it on a power-play goal at 2:14 when his shot from the slot trickled past Henrik Lundqvist.
SHARKS 7, BLUES 6: Jonathan Cheechoo scored with 1:54 left for visiting San Jose. Cheechoo got the puck behind the St. Louis net, skated in front and beat goalie Patrick Lalime with a wrist shot from the right circle.
PREDATORS 3, DUCKS 2 (SO): Paul Kariya scored the winner for host Nashville. After all three Anaheim shooters and Nashville's Steve Sullivan and Marek Zidlicky had missed, Kariya beat Jean-Sebastien Giguere high to the right.
COYOTES: The team made Bobby Hull the first member of its Glendale Arena Ring of Honor. Earlier in the day, Phoenix acquired forwards Geoff Sanderson and Tim Jackman from the Blue Jackets for forwards Mike Rupp and Jason Chimera and defenseman Cale Hulse.
RED WINGS: Veteran defenseman Jason Woolley re-signed a one-year contract. He had 42 points in 117 games in two seasons in Detroit.
