PITTSBURGH _ Bryan Rust scored at 1:24 of overtime to give the Penguins a 4-3 victory against Boston Wednesday at PPG Paints Arena.
Rust charged down the slot ahead of Bruins forward Ryan Spooner and, on the backhand, swept an Evgeni Malkin feed from along the left-wing boards past goalie Tuukka Rask for his eighth of the season.
The victory was the seventh in a row for the Penguins (20-7-3), who hurdled Montreal and Chicago to take over first place in the overall standings. The Penguins have played one more game than the Canadiens and have a game-in-hand on the Blackhawks.
They also snapped a 0-4-1 streak against the Bruins.
Penalty-killing has been an issue for the Penguins for much of this season _ they entered the Bruins game ranked 27th in the NHL _ but they turned in some quality shorthanded work with the score tied, 1-1, late in the first period.
A Penguins power play was three seconds from ending when Patric Hornqvist was called for holding at 16:31. Forty-one seconds later, Kris Letang was sent off for interference.
Boston had a two-man advantage for 89 seconds, but was unable to beat goalie Matt Murray.
Ian Cole, Tom Kuhnhackl and Nick Bonino were responsible for most of that kill.
Boston had opened the scoring when Brad Marchand put a shot between Murray's legs from inside the left circle at 10:48, but Justin Schultz countered for the Penguins just two minutes and one second later.
Schultz took a feed from Sidney Crosby and beat Rask with a wrist shot from near the top of the right circle. The goal was Schultz's fifth of the season, while Crosby's assist stretched his scoring streak to nine games.
After David Krejci put Boston back in front, 2-1, at 6:40 of the second period, Bonino pulled the Penguins even again during a power play at 9:47.
He pulled in a lead pass from Trevor Daley and carried the puck into the Bruins' zone before throwing a wrist shot by Rask from near the top of the left circle.
The other assist went to Murray, his second in four games.
The Penguins finally got a lead when Conor Sheary set up at the front edge of the crease and scored a power-play goal at 9:02 of the third by steering in a Brian Dumoulin feed for his eighth.
Dumoulin figured in on the next goal, too, but the Penguins didn't score that one.
David Pastrnak of the Bruins tied the game, 3-3, at 13:20, tossing in a backhander from the inner edge of the right circle after a breakdown in communication between Murray and Dumoulin behind the net led to them losing possession of the puck.
The Penguins will close out a three-game home stand when Los Angeles visits PPG Paints Arena on Friday.
