PITTSBURGH -- Perhaps Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby was just saving things up so he could have a multiple-goal game one day against the St. Louis Blues.

That day came Wednesday. Crosby scored twice, the first goals of career against St. Louis, the only NHL opponent against which he had not scored. Defenseman Ben Lovejoy added a goal, and center Evgeni Malkin scored on a backhander at 1:03 of overtime to lift the Penguins past St. Louis 4-3.

A breakdown by the Blues allowed Malkin to move in on a two-on-one and slip the puck past the left skate of St. Louis goaltender Jake Allen, improving the Penguins to 4-0 in overtime.

The Blues scored first on center Paul Stastny's goal but never led again and had to chase Pittsburgh all game after Crosby gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead. Center Robby Fabbri and defenseman Alex Pietrangelo also scored for St. Louis.

St. Louis headed home 1-0-1 on a short road trip that wasn't all that satisfying.

"We'll take three of the four points, get home and get some rest, but we haven't played near as well as we have in the past," Blues coach Ken Hitchcock said. "We've got too much slowness in our game. We're way too much on our heels now."

Crosby previously had 31 shots in 10 games against the Blues. It was his fourth goal of the season and gave him his first three-game points streak.

In this game, he had nine shots, leaving him to wonder if he left another goal or three on the ice.

"It should have been more," Crosby said, smiling.

His first two-goal game of the season after he and the rest of his club have struggled offensively was a needed spark.

"When Sid's shooting the puck like that, with the determination he plays with offensively, he's really hard to handle," Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston said. "He's going to get five, six shots on most nights. Like any other goal scorer once they start to score or once they start to feel it you can see their confidence start to pick up."

Seven of the past eight games between the teams have been decided by one goal, five of them going beyond regulation.

The Blues took a 1-0 lead with a power-play goal at 9:15 of the first period. Stastny, stationed near the right post, deftly shoveled a blast from the center point by left winger Alexander Steen inside the post and behind the outstretched leg of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.

Crosby tied it for Pittsburgh 1-1 at 16:19 of the first period. Defenseman Carl Gunnarsson attempted a cross-ice pass from the left-wing boards in his defensive zone, but the puck hit the stick of Penguins left winger Pascal Dupuis and he directed it to Crosby, who was alone in the slot and beat Allen with slap shot.

"He put it on a tee for me there," said Crosby, who figured he would have felt incredibly snakebit if he had missed on that chance. "It's nice to put that one in. I don't know what would have been going through my head if that hadn't gone in."

Crosby struck again at 9:57 of the second period, this time with a power-play goal for a 2-1 Pittsburgh lead. Malkin, from the right circle, found Crosby in the slot. Crosby's fluttering redirection sailed past the screen of right winger Patric Hornqvist and past Allen.

"(Hornqvist) is always there," Crosby said. "He's always at the net, so it's never a bad play to throw it there. A lot of times tonight when I picked my head up, he was sitting there, so it's never a bad play to put it in an area when he's fighting for position."

Fabbri pulled St. Louis into a 2-2 tie with a wrist shot at 1:12 of the third period.

Lovejoy restored the Penguins' lead, 3-2, at 6:49 of the third on a wrist shot from the top of the slot with Pietrangelo providing a screen. It was Lovejoy's second goal of the season and just the 13th of his career.

After the Blues were able to sustain some pressure in the Pittsburgh end, Pietrangelo tied it 3-3 with a shot from the right dot at 14:19 of the third.

"Four (goals) would be better," Pietrangelo said. "It's not easy playing comeback hockey, though. We have to find a way to get up on teams early and bury them. Good character shown coming back here, but it'd be nice to be up once in a while. But then again, it's tough on the road to carry that momentum for a full game."

Lovejoy predicted that the win would be a confidence-booster for the Penguins, who have been inconsistent much of the season and reached the quarter-pole during the game.

"We're not oblivious to what's going on," he said. "We don't feel we've played our best hockey consistently all year. Tonight I think we played a great game."

NOTES: St. Louis C Paul Stastny played in his second game after missing 16 because of a broken right foot. ... The Blues held an optional morning skate. ...The Blues scratched RW Scottie Upshall, C Scott Gomez and D Joel Edmonson. ... St. Louis' next two games are at home. ... Five of Pittsburgh's next six games are on the road. ... The Penguins scratched RW Daniel Sprong and D David Warsofsky. ... Hockey analyst and former Penguins player Matthew Barnaby said on two radio shows Wednesday that there is a rift between Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby and team owner and Hall of Famer Mario Lemieux. Through the Penguins Twitter account, Lemieux, who rarely speaks publicly, said, "It's absolutely not true. It's silly." "I honestly don't even know what to say to that," Crosby added. "If people are going to make stuff up, it's totally out of my control. I feel stupid even commenting on it. That's ridiculous."