The Pittsburgh Penguins held off the visiting Montreal Canadiens 5-4 on Thursday to give newly appointed coach Dan Bylsma the first NHL victory of his career.

Bylsma replaced Michel Therrien, who was sacked on Sunday, and watched as the Penguins delivered a late goal to break a two-game losing streak in his second game at the helm.

Sergei Gonchar provided the game-winning score with his first goal of the year - a slap shot that beat Montreal goaltender Carey Price at 7:18 into the third period.

Bylsma, a former NHL forward, has emphasized the team will be "aggressive" under his tenure.

"I told the players that how we play the game is going to send a message," Bylsma told reporters. "Our guys were focused, energized and ready to go. I saw some good things."

NHL points leader Evgeni Malkin added his 27th goal of the year besides one assist as Pittsburgh improved to 28-25-6 on the year, moving to within four points of the eighth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Center Tomas Plekanec led the way with two goals and one assist for the Canadiens, who fell again a night after suffering a 4-3 shootout loss to the Washington Capitals.

Montreal (30-22-7) have now lost three straight and 12 of their last 15 contests and are holding on to the sixth position in the East by one point.

The Canadiens fell behind when Petr Sykora scored his 22nd goal of the season 10:27 into the game.

Plekanec, Pittsburgh's Miroslav Satan and Canadiens defenseman Mathieu Schneider traded goals midway through the second to tie 2-2.

The Penguins surged two goals ahead through Malkin and Maxime Talbot early in the third before Andrei Kostitsyn and Plekanec responded to even things once again with 13:29 remaining.

Canadiens were without Alex Kovalev for the second straight game after the All-Star forward was told by the team to stay home during the two-game road trip.

Pittsburgh will begin a two-game trip of their own starting at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

"We were aggressive and took advantage of chances (tonight)," said Sidney Crosby, who had one assist on the night. "We did a good job of establishing good floor check and we played physical. "We made a few mistakes but we kept coming at them and got a good result."

RESULTS from the NHL games on Thursday
(home team in CAPS)
PHILADELPHIA 6 Buffalo      3
Carolina     6 NY ISLANDERS 2
PITTSBURGH   5 Montreal     4
New Jersey   3 TAMPA BAY    2 (SO)
Chicago      4 FLORIDA      0
Vancouver    5 OTTAWA       2
Columbus     4 TORONTO      3 (SO)
Calgary      3 MINNESOTA    2 (OT)
St. Louis    2 NASHVILLE    1 (OT)
DALLAS       4 Edmonton     2
PHOENIX      4 Atlanta      3 (SO)
SAN JOSE     4 Los Angeles  2

STANDINGS after Thursday's NHL games
EASTERN CONFERENCE
ATLANTIC DIVISION

               W  L  OTL GF  GA  PTS
 1. New Jersey   38 18   3 182 147   79
 2. Philadelphia 31 16   9 185 164   71
 3. NY Rangers   31 22   6 147 163   68
 4. Pittsburgh   28 25   6 178 182   62
 5. NY Islanders 17 35   6 140 198   40
 NORTHEAST DIVISION

               W  L  OTL GF  GA  PTS
 1. Boston       40 10   8 197 131   88
 2. Montreal     30 22   7 179 181   67
 3. Buffalo      30 23   6 175 166   66
 4. Ottawa       22 26   9 141 163   53
 5. Toronto      21 26  11 175 214   53
 SOUTHEAST DIVISION

               W  L  OTL GF  GA  PTS
 1. Washington   37 16   5 195 166   79
 2. Florida      29 21   8 164 159   66
 3. Carolina     29 25   5 153 173   63
 4. Tampa Bay    19 27  12 147 184   50
 5. Atlanta      21 32   6 175 208   48
 WESTERN CONFERENCE
 CENTRAL DIVISION

               W  L  OTL GF  GA  PTS
 1. Detroit      38 12   8 221 170   84
 2. Chicago      33 15   8 190 140   74
 3. Columbus     30 23   6 163 164   66
 4. Nashville    27 28   4 141 168   58
 5. St. Louis    25 26   7 165 177   57
 NORTHWEST DIVISION

               W  L  OTL GF  GA  PTS
 1. Calgary      34 18   6 184 171   74
 2. Vancouver    29 21   8 178 168   66
 3. Edmonton     29 25   4 163 179   62
 4. Minnesota    28 24   4 144 132   60
 5. Colorado     27 30   1 159 180   55
 PACIFIC DIVISION

               W  L  OTL GF  GA  PTS
 1. San Jose     39  8   9 196 139   87
 2. Dallas       29 21   7 173 176   65
 3. Anaheim      28 26   5 166 170   61
 4. Los Angeles  25 23   9 152 164   59
 5. Phoenix      26 28   5 150 181   57