MONTREAL (AP) — Antti Niemi felt good after his first start of the season — and a win.Niemi made 25 saves Youth Jaden Schwartz Jersey , and Paul Byron and Jonathan Drouin scored in the shootout to lead the Montreal Canadiens to a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.Niemi, getting the start with Carey Price out with the flu, also stopped both shots in the shootout — on Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby.“It was a tough first half, didn’t see many pucks and I gave up a few goals,” Niemi said. “Not what you normally want to see. In the third, I started seeing a few more pucks and I was feeling good.“I have to be really happy with my night.”With the score tied 3-3, the Canadiens’ goalie made 14 stops in the third period and another three in a frantic overtime period that saw Montreal fail to score on a 4-on-3 power play.After Byron scored first in the shootout for Montreal, Niemi forced Malkin to the outside and completely took away his shooting angle. Following Drouin’s goal, Crosby needed to score to send it to a third round but the Penguins’ captain found Niemi’s glove instead.“Stay with them, get a good gap and go from there,” Niemi said of his shootout saves. “Nothing special.”Tomas Tatar had two goals and an assist, and Brendan Gallagher had a goal and an assist for the Canadiens.Dominik Simon, Kris Letang and Phil Kessel scored in regulation for the Penguins Jake Allen Jersey , and Casey DeSmith had 37 saves through overtime.Making the 13th start of his NHL career, the 27-year-old DeSmith made big saves when it mattered most to help Pittsburgh earn a point.With seven minutes left in the game, DeSmith robbed Artturi Lehkonen twice to keep the teams tied. In overtime, DeSmith frustrated Max Domi from in close.“That was wild,” said DeSmith, who made 35 saves in a 4-2 win over Vegas on Thursday. “Really exciting game for the fans. Happy we got a point but I hate losing as much as everyone else. I was seeing the puck really well tonight. Happy with how my game’s progressing.”Added Penguins coach Mike Sullivan of his goalie: “I thought he was terrific.”Montreal also defeated Pittsburgh 5-1 last Saturday.Simon and Letang scored in the first period to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. Daniel Sprong fed Simon in front of the goal with a one-handed scoop pass and the 24-year-old beat Niemi on the backhand at 3:13. Letang doubled Pittsburgh’s lead with 4:44 left with a shot on Niemi’s blocker side.The Canadiens came out buzzing in the second period, scoring three straight goals before Kessel tied it again. Montreal outshot Pittsburgh 19-4 in the second.Just 11 seconds into the middle period, Tatar beat Letang to a loose puck in front of the net, then fired past DeSmith for his first in a Canadiens uniform.Gallagher tied it 2-2 at 7:38 after jumping on a rebound of Jeff Petry’s point shot.Tatar got his second of the game, on the power play, by firing the puck off DeSmith and in from the side of the net at 8:51 to push Montreal ahead.“We knew we weren’t good enough in the first and we talked about how we needed to be better,” said Tatar, who joined Montreal in the offseason trade that sent former captain Max Pacioretty to Vegas. “We got a pretty good jump at the start of the second period.“Everyone played well in the second period and we had a lot of pressure. We all deserve the credit.”With the Penguins on a man advantage Joel Edmundson Jersey , Kessel made it 3-3 from the slot at 11:14.Montreal failed to score on a 5-on-3 power play that lasted 1:49 to end the second period.It looked like the Canadiens had taken a 4-3 lead in the third period when defenseman Victor Mete put the puck past DeSmith, but the goal was called back for goaltender interference on Andrew Shaw after a challenge by Sullivan.NOTES: Montreal also had a goal overturned in its previous, also due to goalie interference against Shaw, in its 3-0 loss to Los Angeles. … Pittsburgh D Justin Schultz left the game in the first period and did not return. Schultz’s leg folded awkwardly as fell to the ice after taking a hit by Tomas Plekanec, who was making his 999th career start.UP NEXTPenguins: Host Vancouver on Tuesday night.Canadiens: Host Detroit on Monday night. The Tampa Bay Lightning, missing Norris Trophy-winning defenseman Victor Hedman, will try and hang onto first place in the Atlantic Division when they face the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.The Lightning (8-3-1) are 1-2-0 since Hedman sustained an upper body injury when he was hit by Ryan Reaves of the Vegas Golden Nights a week ago. Hedman is not expected to return until next week.In his absence, the Lightning lost to the Arizona Coyotes 7-1, defeated the New Jersey Devils 8-3 and lost to the Nashville Predators 4-1, the last two games at home.Article continues below ...Lightning defenseman Slater Koekkoek, a healthy scratch until Hedman was injured, has chipped in 15 minutes of ice time in the past three games to help the Lightning cope in Hedman’s absence. He scored the Lightning goal against the Predators.“It felt good,” Koekkoek told the Tampa Bay Times. “I have a lot of people doubting me. A lot of people who don’t matter. It felt good for the people who do believe in me. My family Vladimir Tarasenko Jersey , and the people who do matter.”“For us as a group, we kind of had to re-group and think about what we wanted to accomplish out there,” veteran defenseman Braydon Coburn told The Times. “Heddy brings so many different things to the table. Nobody is going to replace him. For us, playing our own game and working together as good partner duos is what we tried to accomplish together. We work for each other, and I thought we did that.”The Lightning will be looking to capitalize on the chances they generate against the Canadiens. They outshot the Predators 43-24, but only managed the one goal by Koekkoek.The Canadiens (7-3-2) are in third place in the Atlantic Division and are coming off a newsworthy 6-4 home win over the Washington Capitals on Thursday.Canadiens rookie Jesperi Kotkaniemi, the No. 3 pick in last summer’s draft, scored the first two goals of his NHL career against the Capitals. His second goal tied the game 4-4 at 16:56 of the third period and then Canadiens forwards Max Domi and Joel Armia scored two seconds apart, an NHL record for two fastest goals by one team, to give the Canadiens the win. Armia’s goal was into an empty net.“That was pretty crazy,” Kotkaniemi told NHL.com of the reception he got from the Canadiens fans. “I’ve never heard a crowd like that before.” “For me, it was the first time I’ve heard the fans so loud,” Canadiens forward Nicolas Deslauriers told montrealcanadiens.com. “I’ve always said it’s fun to play here and that the fans are loud Alex Killorn Jersey Kids , but (Thursday) was something special. It gave us even more energy. That’s why we often say we have the best fans. Things can change in any game and we saw it (Thursday).At the age of 18 years, 118 days, Kotkaniemi is the second-youngest player to score for the Canadiens (Mario Tremblay was 18 years, 75 days old when he scored his first goal for Montreal on Nov. 16, 1974, against the New York Rangers).“I think he has a good attitude,” Canadiens coach Claude Julien told the team’s website regarding Kotkaniemi. “In some cases there are players that put too much pressure on themselves. It’s not the case with him. He’s a player with incredible skill and in the future will develop even more.“He already has a certain obligation that comes with playing in the NHL and that’s to show up every day. He’s doing that. All we ask of him is to do it, so he just has to keep it up.”