MONTREAL - The Montreal Canadiens' offensive woes continue to haunt the slumping club.

Pittsburgh right winger Bryan Rust scored his first goal of the season to lift the Penguins to a 3-1 win over the Canadiens on Saturday night at the Bell Centre.

Right winger Patric Hornqvist and center Eric Fehr also scored for Pittsburgh (20-16-5), which snapped a two-game losing streak.

Defenseman P.K. Subban scored for Montreal.

Goaltender Mike Condon made 29 saves for the Canadiens (23-17-3), who have not strung together consecutive wins since Nov. 25 and 27.

"He played awesome," Canadiens captain Max Pacioretty said of Condon, who stopped 29 shots. "We've got to be better in front of him. He shut the door, a lot of big saves, that glove save on Crosby. He played great."

Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 32 shots for the Penguins.

The Penguins took control in the first period, outshooting Montreal 12-5 and out-attempting the home side 24-10. But Condon withstood Pittsburgh's push, denying Sidney Crosby early while closing out the period with a big stop on Evgeni Malkin.

"We were ready to play from the drop of the puck," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "I thought we gained momentum. We didn't score in the first period but I thought our energy and the scoring chances we generated were pretty high quality, and we were playing the game we want to play it.

"After the first period, we said let's not get frustrated because we didn't score. We've just got to continue to play the right way."

Pittsburgh finally broke through at 7:18 of the second, just 12 seconds into a power play. Malkin, along the right wall, picked up the puck just above the goal line and sent it behind the net to right winger Phil Kessel in the opposite corner. Kessel quickly dished off to Hornqvist who, untouched in front, with a slight deke put it behind Condon.

Subban's second of the season tied the game at 10:39. Center Tomas Plekanec won the faceoff and got the puck back to defenseman Andrei Markov, who fed Subban at the point. The Canadiens' blue-liner wasted little time in ripping his patented slap shot through a sea of bodies past Fleury, for his first goal since Oct. 24.

A defensive miscue by Montreal set the table for the Penguins to restore their lead. Defenseman Greg Pateryn went out of position for a hit on center Nick Bonino, carrying the puck, at the Canadiens' blue line. Bonino got the disc over to Rust, who skated in alone before firing it past Condon at 14:12.

"I saw the 'D' from my side kind of moving over to him so I tried to dart in right behind him and I was lucky enough that Nick made such a good play that I was able to get free behind him," said Rust, whose goal was just the second of his NHL career in his 20th game.

Pittsburgh had a chance to add to its lead midway through the third on another power play when Crosby had the puck on his stick to the side of the net, but Condon was quick with the glove to deny the Penguins' captain.

The Canadiens pushed for the equalizer in the third, tossing 17 shots on Fleury but couldn't find the back of the net.

"We played better as the game went on," Plekanec said. "We had a slow start but had a better second period. We pushed harder but we need to be better.

"We've got to find a way to put pucks to the net at the right time and have guys going to the net at the right time," he added.

Fehr completed the scoring with a shorthanded tally into an empty net.

NOTES: The Penguins scratched LW Sergei Plotnikov and David Warsofsky, while D Adam Clendening remained in the AHL on a conditioning stint. ... Called-up from AHL Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, RW Tom Kuhnhackl made his NHL debut, becoming the fifth player to do so for Pittsburgh this season. ... Montreal D Jeff Petry missed the game with a lower-body injury and was replaced by D Greg Pateryn. ... The Canadiens scratched D Jarred Tinordi and LW Tomas Fleischmann. ... The game was the 41st on Pittsburgh's schedule, marking the team's official midpoint of the season. ... Saturday's contest was the third and final regular-season meeting between the Canadiens and Pittsburgh, who last faced off Nov. 11.