development after a strife-torn off-season

PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins and Montreal Canadiens are still adjusting to NHL play after a nearly three-week Olympic layoff. And it showed Thursday night. The Canadiens, playing in their second game in as many days, however, got a good performance in the end from their backup goaltender as he filled in for an injured Olympic gold medallist . Peter Budaj stopped all three shooters in the shootout and David Desharnais scored the only goal, leading the Canadiens to a wild 6-5 victory. "He battled back in the second and third and in the shootout he was outstanding," Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said of Budaj. Budaj, in his second straight start for injured starter Carey Price, stopped Penguins shooters James Neal and Sidney Crosby before denying Evgeni Malkins slap shot for the win. Desharnais, the third shooter for Montreal, slammed on the brakes at the top of the crease before sliding the puck by Marc-Andre Fleury. "I would like to have some goals back, but we scored five goals against Pittsburgh," Budaj said. "We have to learn from the mistakes we made. We have to keep going and getting better." Daniel Briere scored twice, once on the power play, and Max Pacioretty also scored with the man advantage, his 27th of the year. Brendan Gallagher netted his 15th for the Canadiens and Alexei Emelin also scored his second of the season. Budaj, who stopped 27 shots, made his second straight start after turning aside 28 shots during an overtime loss one day earlier against Detroit. "You can tell the bench guys wanted to battle back for him because he certainly worked hard," Therrien said. He filled in for Price, who was named the top goaltender at the Olympic games after going 5-0 with a 0.59 goals-against average and two shutouts, leading Team Canada to a gold medal. Price, who aggravated a lower-body injury sustained in Sochi, will be re-evaluated Friday. "Credit to the team because they stuck with it, they battled for me and we got the two points," Budaj said. Crosby, who leads the NHL with 80 points, scored his 29th and added an assist. Neal scored his 21st for his 300th career point and also had an assist, while Malkin provided two assists, both extending six-game point streaks. Olli Maatta scored his seventh of the season on the power play and had an assist, while Brandon Sutter had a short-handed goal, his 10th of the year. Deryk Engelland also scored his career-high fifth goal. "We worked hard," Crosby said. "It was a little sloppy, and a lot of special teams. ... Probably a tough first one for everybody to get into." The teams were tied at 3 after two periods and both scored twice in the third, sending the game to overtime. Three of the four third-period goals were scored by special teams units, Sutter giving the Penguins a 4-3 lead with a short-handed breakaway goal and Crosby later putting Pittsburgh ahead 5-4 on the power play. Emelin tied it 24 seconds after Sutter gave the Penguins the initial lead and Briere sent the game to overtime with his second goal of the game. With the Canadiens trailing, the Penguins Tanner Glass was issued a five-minute major for a hit on Emelin. The call was elbowing, but video replays showed Emelins stick came up and hit him in the head. "Thats why I kind of followed through the way I did, to get his stick away from my face," Glass said. "Its a hockey play, it happens. I can understand why he made the call." The Canadiens cashed in anyway, Briere tying it with his second of the game when he feathered a back-door rebound behind Fleury, who made 24 saves. NOTES: Penguins D Kris Letang spoke with reporters Thursday morning, the first time since suffering a stroke and said he will likely play hockey again, but its unclear if he will return this season. ... Paul Martin, out 4-to-6 weeks after breaking his hand in the Olympics, was scratched along with recently recalled D Simon Despres. ... Price, C Ryan White, and D Francis Bouillon were scratched for Montreal. ... Penguins F Jussi Jokinen recorded his 400th career point. Don Mattingly Jersey . -- The Sacramento Kings have signed first-round pick Nik Stauskas to his rookie contract. Babe Ruth Yankees Jersey . -- Canadian freestyle skier Roz Groenewoud isnt letting surgery to both of her knees deter her expectations for the Sochi Olympics. https://www.cheapyankees.com/901g-raul-m...ey-yankees.html. A 23-year-old rookie, Stroman is 4-2 with a 3.44 earned run average in 12 games this season, the past seven of those being starts. He logged the first scoreless outing of his career on Friday versus Oakland in a no-decision. Stephen Tarpley Yankees Jersey . Tyutin has missed the last nine games with an ankle injury which occurred while playing for Russia at the Olympics. The top-two defenceman has four goals and 20 assists, 30 penalty minutes and a plus-6 rating in 53 games with Columbus this season. Joe Pepitone Yankees Jersey . The struggling New Orleans Pelicans were simply overmatched. Crawford hit seven 3s on his way to 24 points, and the Clippers beat the Pelicans 123-110 on Monday night. "We understand what we do well. If we all do what we do well, well make our team stronger," Crawford said.SEPANG, Malaysia -- Mercedes confirmed it was the team to beat at the Malaysian Grand Prix by setting the fastest times in both of Fridays practice sessions, although its Formula One rivals were closer than expected. Nico Rosberg, coming off his win at the season-opening race in Australia, was fastest in the second session and overall with a time of 1 minute, 39.909 seconds around the Sepang International Circuit, exceeding Ferraris Kimi Raikkonen by three-hundredths of a second. Raikkonen, who struggled in Melbourne, was also second fastest in the morning session behind Rosbergs Mercedes teammate, Lewis Hamilton. Although Mercedes was expected to dominate the early races of the season, and did so in Australia, the top six cars on Friday afternoon were separated by just two-tenths of a second, indicating a competitive race on Sunday. "We are still having some small issues and therefore we were not able to maximize everything today," Rosberg said. "The quickest teams seem to be closer together than in Australia, so we still have work to do overnight to improve our level of performance." Defending four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel overcame some technical issues that restricted his running in the morning session and was an impressive third fastest in the afternoon, while his Red Bull teammate Daniel Ricciardo was seventh. The bad news for Vettel was that he needed to change his computer power supply unit, which alternates the power source between the engine, the turbo and battery-stored energy. That means he is onto his third of the season, with a limit of five all year before penalties kick in. "Fridaay timings are not the most important in the world, but to be out there in the range with the other guys was a decent day," Vettel said.dddddddddddd. "It was not a completely smooth day for both of us; for myself, still some things to solve on the software side, programming the car, which sounds wrong but that is the way it is." Hamilton was fourth in the second session, ahead of Ferraris Fernando Alonso and Williams Felipe Massa. Hamilton is using the same engine that caused his early retirement from the Australian GP, with the team having fixed the misfire and preserved an engine which is also subject to the same five-per-season limit. McLarens Jenson Button was eighth quickest, ahead of Williams driver Valtteri Bottas and Force Indias Nico Hulkenberg. On a typically hot but dry day at Sepang, all drivers endured technical issues of some kind, ranging from the lack of downforce which caused several off-track excursions, high tire-wear from the consequent sliding, and fuel consumption issues with the new V6 turbo hybrid engines and the introduction of fuel usage limits. As in Melbourne, Lotus and Caterham were the teams to suffer most. Neither Lotus car completed a lap in the morning as the team continued to play catchup on its engine development after a strife-torn off-season. Pastor Maldonado sat out the afternoon too, and while Romain Grosjean made several trips out on track, he suffered repeated breakdowns. Caterhams Kamui Kobayashi had yet more problems with his energy-storage system, necessitating another replacement after two in Melbourne, meaning he is already closing in on the season limit. ' ' '