MONTREAL --Hockey, it is said, is a game of mistakes.

If that's true, the Penguins and Montreal produced a classic last night.

Both were guilty of countless bad decisions, terrible penalties -- how about three too-many-men-on-the-ice infractions in one game? -- and more giveaways than a world-class marketing department could stage in a decade.

	Scouting report Matchup: Toronto Maple Leafs at Penguins, 7:38 p.m. today, Mellon Arena. TV, radio: FSN, WWSW-FM (94.5). Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury for Penguins. Mikael Tellqvist for Maple Leafs. Penguins: Have won back-to-back games at Mellon Arena for just second time this season. ... Have lost six home games in a row against Toronto, including 3-2 overtime defeat Dec. 27. ... Are 4-8-2 in second game when playing on back-to-back days, but 2-1 in past three. Maple Leafs: Were 1-7-2 in past 10 road games before visiting New York Rangers last night. ... C Matt Stajan entered New York game with league-high eight short-handed points. ... Are 10-4-1 in second game when playing on consecutive nights. Hidden stat: Penguins, 9-18-7 at Mellon Arena, are only NHL team that hasn't reached double-digits in home-ice wins. Related articles Penguins Notebook: Lack of trade frustrates LeClair Shelly Anderson's NHL Notebook: Thornton, Jagr give scoring race some fire Shelly Anderson's Slap shots: 3/19/06

Ultimately, though, it was the Canadiens -- and especially goalie David Aebischer -- who hit the self-destruct button most often, allowing the Penguins (17-38-12) to escape this how-not-to clinic at the Bell Centre with a 5-4 victory.

"Mentally, obviously, we weren't there," Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney said. "We had two too-many-men-on-the-ice penalties, turnovers and missed back checks and [poor] defensive-zone play."

And that's the abridged version.

Even Andre Roy's winning goal was a miscue of sorts.

He took a feed from Sidney Crosby and broke down the slot, then lost control of the puck after being hooked. Roy never got off a shot, but the puck still slid past Aebischer and inside the left post at 3:50 of the third period.

"A lucky goal," Roy said, "but I'll take it."

Roy's goal, his second of the season, might prove that Canadiens coach Bob Gainey made the biggest gaffe of all by defying expectations and starting Aebischer instead of Cristobal Huet. Aebischer stopped just 18 of 23 Penguins shots and generally looked awful doing it.

Conversely, his Penguins counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury, became a true hockey rarity: A goalie named the No. 1 star after having four pucks elude him. Of course, Fleury was honored not for the goals Montreal scored, but for the 42 stops -- many of them spectacular -- he made.

"It's the best feeling I've had in a four-goal game," Fleury said.

The game began well for the Penguins as Eric Boguniecki converted a John LeClair feed at 3:42 of the opening period. LeClair's assist was his 800th point in the NHL, and it didn't take him long to get No. 801.

Eighty-four seconds after Montreal defenseman Mathieu Dandenault was sent off for interference at 4:03, Ryan Malone, stationed along the goal line to the right of the net, banked a shot off Aebischer and into the net to make it 2-0. LeClair and Whitney got assists.

The Penguins were poised to take control of the game at that point, but Montreal defenseman Francis Bouillon abruptly altered its course with a crushing hit on Niklas Nordgren in the middle of the period.

At 9:48, just seconds after Bouillon drove Nordgren into the boards behind the Canadiens' net, Jan Bulis threw a shot past Fleury to make it 2-1, and Garth Murray tied the score on a deflection at 11:13.

The Penguins were caught with too many men on the ice at 14:50, and it cost them a power-play goal for the first time in four games. Sheldon Souray scored it at 16:23, hammering a slap shot past Fleury from the high slot.

With the Penguins on the cusp of unraveling, LeClair restored their equilibrium -- and capped his most productive period of the season -- by swatting a loose puck past Aebischer from the slot with 22.4 seconds to go before the intermission.

LeClair's goal, his 16th, was made possible when a Josef Melichar shot from the right point hit the shaft of Souray's stick, leading to a rebound Aebischer could not control.

The momentum shifted back to the Penguins at 3:02 of the second, after Bouillon injured his left leg by falling awkwardly into the boards as he and Nordgren raced for a puck.

When play stopped, Roy squared off with Canadiens winger Aaron Downey, a former teammate in Tampa Bay. Downey held his own early, but Roy brought the fight to an emphatic end with a haymaker that dropped Downey.

"He's a tough kid," Roy said. "He did good."

Good enough to earn the silver medal in that fight.

The Penguins, though, surrendered the upper hand by taking another too-many-men-on-the-ice minor at 10:08, and a delay-of-game call against Melichar at 11:10. Fifteen seconds into the five-on-three power play that resulted, Souray lashed a shot past Fleury to put Montreal ahead, 4-3.

The Penguins bounced back again, however, on a power-play goal by Whitney at 13:31 as he tossed the puck into the net from the bottom of the left circle for his third of the season.

That goal made Roy's heroics possible, and Fleury made certain the Penguins wouldn't need a sixth goal to win for the third time in their past four games. And while his teammates weren't terribly impressed by their own work, they weren't about to give back the two points they earned, either.

"This wasn't our best at all," Crosby said. "But, trust me, we've played a lot of good hockey games and not won."