Sidney Crosby scored a goal, assisted on two by Evgeni Malkin, and dropped the gloves for the first time in the NHL to spur the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 5-4 shootout victory over the Boston Bruins on Thursday night.

Boston had trailed 4-0 until 16:04 of the second period, coming back to earn a point when Dennis Wideman's blast tied the game with 2:55 left in the third.

"We were heading toward embarrassment there for a while, but you have to give the guys credit for bouncing back and earning a point," Boston coach Claude Julien said.

Erik Christensen and Kris Letang scored in the shootout to give Pittsburgh the victory. Letang is 3-for-3 in shootout attempts.

Colby Armstrong had three assists for the Penguins.

Crosby helped set up Malkin's first of the game 55 seconds in, scored his 16th of the season at 8:26, and then assisted on Malkin's 13th as Pittsburgh jumped to a 3-0 lead.

The 20-year-old Pittsburgh captainfought Andrew Ference in the second period.

"It's not something I'm going to make a habit of, by any means," Crosby said.

Journeyman goalie Ty Conklin, making his first start for Pittsburgh, stopped both shots in the shootout and helped his new club win for the second time in five games.

Conklin made 41 saves through overtime, then turned aside Phil Kessel and Marco Sturm in theshootout.

"Conks was unbelievable all game," Christensen said. "We're happy, but we have to learn from this."

The Bruins rallied on late second-period goals by Sturm and P.J. Axelsson, and got their third goal from rookie Petteri Nokelainen.

Crosby, playing in his 194th NHL game, fought Ference to at least a draw 5:09 into the second period. Ference, given an extra two minutes for starting the fight, had a cut over his left eye but it wasn't clear if that was caused by a Crosby punch or Ference's helmet.

Conklin signed with Pittsburgh as a free agent in July and was recalled from the minors Dec. 6 when Marc-Andre Fleury sustained an ankle injury.

Boston's Tim Thomas, returning from a seven-game absence due to a groin

strain, was beaten by the first shot he saw.

Armstrong kept the puck in the Boston zone and moved it to Crosby, who fed Malkin alone in front. Crosby then tipped home Armstrong's pass less than eight minutes later. Malkin's slap shot made it 3-0 at 11:53.

Christensen tipped in Ryan Whitney's shot to push the advantage to 4-0 at 11:09 of the second, bringing boos to the Bruins from the fans.