Crosby scores 3, Penguins win 10th

Sidney Crosby had his third career hat trick and the Pittsburgh Penguins became the first NHL team to reach 10 victories this season, snapping the visiting Montreal Canadiens' four-game winning streak with a 6-1 victory last night.

Crosby, now tied for fourth in the NHL with nine goals, had his third multiple-goal game in 12 starts this season.

"When you get three goals in a game, that kind of changes the look of your [season] numbers early on," said Crosby, who has 36 goals in his past 55 games (including the playoffs). "I'm trying to shoot the puck when I get chances and trying to not pass up good shots, but it's just been a matter of the puck going in early on."

Chris Kunitz also scored and assisted on all three of Crosby's goals. Mike Rupp and Alex Goligoski added goals, and Bill Guerin had three assists.

Crosby extended his point streak to five games, completing his hat trick during the first 36 minutes, giving him nine goals in October for the first time in his career. Last season, Crosby's ninth goal came a full month later on Nov. 28.

In other games:

* At Newark, N.J., Clarke MacArthur and rookie Tim Kennedy scored early in the first period and the Buffalo Sabres remained unbeaten on the road with a 4-1 victory over the Devils last night. New Jersey had a three-game winning streak snapped in losing for the fourth time in five home games.

* At Uniondale, N.Y., Islanders captain Doug Weight, in his first game back following a bout with swine flu, earned an assist on Kyle Okposo's tiebreaking, power-play goal in the second period that lifted the Isles to a 3-1 victory over the New York Rangers.

* At Columbus, Martin Hanzal, Zbynek Michalek and Robert Lang scored power-play goals and Jason LaBarbera stopped 31 shots in the Phoenix Coyotes' 4-1 victory over the Blue Jackets. The Coyotes have allowed just 23 goals in their first 11 games.

* At Raleigh, N.C., David Perron had two goals, Yan Stastny and Jay McClement scored 16 seconds apart in the first period, and Chris Mason made 34 saves to help the St. Louis Blues beat the Carolina Hurricanes, 5-2.

* At Sunrise, Fla., Nick Foligno and Jarkko Ruutu scored second-period goals to help the Ottawa Senators beat the Florida Panthers, 4-3.

* At St. Paul, Minn., Jerred Smithson scored a shorthanded goal midway through the third period to give the Nashville Predators their second regulation victory of the season, 4-3 over the Minnesota Wild.

* At Dallas, James Neal scored with 2:03 left in overtime to give the Stars a 4-3 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs.

* At Calgary, Craig Anderson made 30 saves as Colorado improved to 10-1-2 with a 3-2 win over the Flames.

* Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo will miss at least the next two games after sustaining a hairline fracture in one of his ribs. He was hurt during Saturday's 3-1 win over Toronto. He aggravated the injury Tuesday night while facing 42 shots in a 5-4 loss to Detroit.