MONTREAL — Saku Koivu is developing another offensive weapon to add to his playmaking abilities — putting the puck in the net himself.

Koivu scored twice for the second game in a row, and the Montreal Canadiens scored four straight goals in the second period en route to a 6-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night.

Michael Ryder scored a power-play goal in the first, the first of four Montreal goals with the man advantage. Alex Kovalev, Koivu and Sheldon Souray added power-play goals in the second. Maxim Lapierre added an empty-netter with 21 seconds left in the game.

Koivu, who leads the Canadiens with 14 goals, scored Montreal's other even-strength goal in the second. It was the Montreal captain's fourth multiple-goal game in December, one short of the team record of five in one month set by Maurice Richard in 1944, and subsequently matched by Jean Beliveau, Guy Lafleur and Steve Shutt.

"I've been working a lot on my shot and things around the net, maybe that's one of the reasons, but I'm not really used to scoring that many goals, it's been more of a playmaking thing," said Koivu

Sidney Crosby — who entered with 10 points in his last two games — had an off night by his recent standards, though he extended his points streak to eight games when he set up Alain Nasreddine's first NHL goal on a delayed penalty to give Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead late in the first period.