The Montreal Canadiens pulled off a stunning comeback to beat the New York Rangers 6-5 in a shootout having trailed 5-0.

The Rangers used four assists by Jaromir Jagr and two goals by 39-year-old Brendan Shanahan to build an impressive 5-0 lead through the 5:03 mark of the second period.

Shanahan's goals took his tally to 20 this season, a mark he has reached for the past 19 years.

But the Rangers' advantage started to slip towards the end of the second when Michael Ryder scored twice for the Canadiens to make it 5-2.

Montreal then had two goals in the space of 10 seconds from former Ranger Alex Kovalev and Mark Streit to take it to 5-4 before Kovalev struck again to level the score and force a shootout.

Goalie Cristobal Huetm who replaced starter Carey Price after the third New York goal, stopped all three shootout attempts by the Rangers. Saku Koivu converted his effort for Montreal.

The improbable comeback from 5-0 down, which Montreal have never done before, allowed the Canadiens to keep a share of top spot with the winning Ottawa Senators in the Eastern Conference.

The Rangers earned one point to remain in sixth place.

The Pittsburgh Penguins roared from behind with three goals in the third period and pulled into a tie for first place in the Atlantic Division with a 3-2 home victory over the Florida Panthers.

Ryan Malone scored two goals in the last 3:20 of the game, the second on the power play with 22.4 seconds left, to give the Penguins the comeback win.

"It was a good comeback in the third period, there's no doubt," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said.

"We needed a quick goal to give us some life."

The visiting Boston Bruins gave up two goals in 20 seconds late in the third period but rebounded for a 3-2 shootout victory over the Carolina Hurricanes. The winning shootout score was by David Krejci, who has not scored a goal in 40 NHL games.

The Ottawa Senators ended a three-game losing streak and extended the Philadelphia Flyers' losing skid to eight game with a 3-2 shootout win in Ottawa.

Daniel Sedin converted a pass from brother Henrik and scored at 3:18 of overtime to give the visiting Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 decision over the Minnesota Wild.

Reuters