MONTREAL -- First, a few basic truths:

1. Many people in this city, particularly members of the media, move effortlessly between French and English.

2. Sidney Crosby grew up speaking English, but took it upon himself to learn French so he could fit in with his junior-hockey teammates in Rimouski.

But even with those realities established, there was a surreal moment in the second intermission of the Penguins' 4-3 overtime loss to Montreal yesterday at the Bell Center.

Reporter Luc Gelinas of RDS, a French-language network, had just completed a live, between-periods interview -- in English, no less -- with Penguins right winger Mark Recchi when Crosby, who apparently had been lurking just off-camera, stepped into the picture. But not to be interviewed.

Instead, Crosby wanted a few seconds of airtime to say hello to his friends and fans in Rimouski, where he played junior hockey, because he had neglected to do so in an interview after the first period.

Which is precisely what he did.

En Francais, of course.

Special special teams

Montreal, a solid second to Buffalo in the Northeast Division for much of the season, has been losing significant ground in the Eastern Conference playoff race lately.

And the Canadiens' recent problems are reflected in the statistics of their special teams, which have been among the league's finest for much of the season. Montreal's power play and penalty-killing are a major part of the reason it has a winning record despite being outscored, 103-79, at even-strength.

But the Canadiens are 4-5-1 in their past 10 games after yesterday's victory, and their special-teams play has been miserable in most of those losses. Montreal's power play, which was 2 for 2 against the Penguins, converted two of 33 chances with the man advantage in those losses, while allowing 13 goals in 26 short-handed situations.

"The way our team has had success this year, special teams have been carrying the mail quite a bit," right winger Mike Johnson said.

We meet again

Canadiens rookie Maxim Lapierre elevated his league-wide profile considerably when he butt-ended Crosby after the opening faceoff of the Penguins' 5-4 shootout victory at Mellon Arena Thursday, but he hardly was a stranger to Crosby.

Lapierre had, by his count, been matched against Crosby "maybe 10 times" when they were in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, so he wasn't surprised Canadiens coach Guy Carbonneau gave him some of the responsibility for containing Crosby in his team's first two games against the Penguins, although he didn't pull that duty yesterday.

"That's my game, to play a defensive game on an energy line," he said. "I've played a couple of games against him, and it's a good challenge."

Slap shots

The Penguins' only healthy scratch was defenseman Noah Welch. They also played without right winger Colby Armstrong (knee) for the second game in a row. Armstrong's status for tomorrow's game against Nashville has not been determined. ... Ryan Whitney and Ray Malone of the Penguins, clad in hockey underwear and tennis shoes, were on the ice 2¹/₂ hours before game time, exchanging passes with a local youth hockey player. The boy was one of two chosen to skate around the ice with a Canadiens flag as part of pregame activities at the Bell Centre.