As far as milestones go, Kris Letang has enjoyed achievements that drew a grander measure of attention.

And when it comes to demanding moments, the Pittsburgh Penguins All-Star defenseman has come through in circumstances that commanded gravity far greater than the 39th game of a regular season.

But getting an overtime goal in the 1,200th contest of your career?

That’s a nice day at the office.

Such was the case Thursday as Letang’s third goal of the season, 58 seconds into overtime, secured the Penguins a 4-3 win against the Detroit Red Wings at PPG Paints Arena.

The result extended a modest winning streak to three games and gave Letang something to celebrate on a few fronts.

“It’s always fun when you have a game — like a milestone game — and you do something you can remember,” Letang said. “So, it was fun to cap it off.”

While the night wasn’t entirely fun for Penguins goaltender Arturs Silovs, he managed to stop 24 of 27 shots and boosted his record to 7-5-6. The rookie has pieced together a tidy individual three-game winning streak after struggling with a seven-game skid (0-3-4) between Nov. 8 and Dec. 18.

“When you’re on the good side of things, you feel much better,” Silovs said. “Every day is a much better feeling coming to the practice rink. It’s just a morale boost. You want to build from it.”

Things looked like they might have collapsed for the Penguins at various junctures in Thursday’s game as they were on the penalty kill seven different times. They were penalized four times alone in the first period.

The Red Wings managed to score twice with all that time on the man advantage. But the damage could have been far worse were it not for the Penguins’ typically sturdy group of penalty killers, who entered the day ranked 11th in the NHL with a conversion rate of 81.7%.

“When you take — what did we have, 12 minutes or 14 minutes on the (penalty kill)? — they’re going to score a few, which is the reality of the good players in this league,” said Penguins forward Blake Lizotte, one of the team’s leading short-handed players. “But overall, when you take that many and only give up two is a huge boost for us. And the bounces tonight weren’t always there, and it was a good, resilient win for our group, and our character really came through.”

The Penguins’ leading character opened the scoring with the first two goals of the contest.

Forward Sidney Crosby’s team-best 22nd goal came 4:08 into regulation during a power-play scenario.

Curling out of Detroit’s right circle towards the near point, former Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha offloaded the puck to Crosby at the opposite point. Taking a few strides forward, Crosby loaded up and cranked a slapper through a phalanx of bodies and past goaltender Cam Talbot’s glove on the far side. Penguins forwards Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust, as well as Red Wings defenseman Moritz Seider, combined to screen Talbot on the sequence. Mantha and defenseman Erik Karlsson collected assists.

Crosby struck again at the 5:46 mark.

Settling a loose puck at his own blue line, Red Wings defenseman Ben Chiarot backtracked a bit into the defensive zone on the right wing and tried to center an outlet pass intended for Red Wings rookie forward Emmitt Finnie. Chiarot’s offering was off the mark and wound up on Crosby’s stick. Accepting the charity, Crosby darted to the slot and lasered a wrister past Talbot’s blocker. There were no assists.

The Penguins’ march to the penalty box in the opening frame was a steady affair and culminated when forward Tommy Novak was assessed a double minor at the 16:19 mark for high-sticking Red Wings forward Patrick Kane. That led to Red Wings forward James van Riemsdyk’s 10th goal at 17:46 of the first.

Accepting a pass above the Penguins’ right circle, Red Wings forward Marco Kasper smacked a one-timer toward the cage. Stationed just above the blue paint, van Riemsdyk surged to his left slightly and tipped the puck with his stick to the far side past Silovs’ blocker. Kasper and defenseman Simon Edvinsson extracted assists.

Things were tied 61 seconds into the second period through strange circumstances.

From the center red line near the benches, Chiarot dumped the puck into the offensive zone toward the left corner. As Silovs vacated his crease with the assumption the puck would rim behind the cage, it wound up taking an unlikely carom and detoured right to the slot. As Silovs made a desperate baseball slide to the blue paint, Red Wings forward Andrew Copp was able to fire a wrister from the lower right circle into an open net for his fifth goal. Chiarot and Kane claimed assists.

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Silovs and company persevered through the mishap.

“It’s a 2-1 game, then it’s 2-2,” Silovs said. “It’s like a 0-0 game again. There’s still 30 minutes to play and we just try to play one moment at a time. We just stick to it.”

Red Wings forward Lucas Raymond appeared to supply his team with its first lead at 12:48 of the third period, but the Penguins issued a coach’s challenge, accusing the sequence of being offside. Officials reviewed the video and euthanized the would-be score.

Lizotte scored his fourth goal through legal circumstances at 15:51 of the third frame.

Working off a furious shift by Lizotte and fellow fourth-liners Noel Acciari and Connor Dewar, Karlsson accepted a pass at Detroit’s right point and lobbed a wrister that struck Lizotte’s left skate above the crease. The rebound trickled to the lower right circle where Lizotte claimed it, spun to his right and floated a fluttering wrister to the far side that struck off of Edvidsson’s stomach and deflected into the cage. Assists went to Karlsson and defensive partner Parker Wotherspoon. For Karlsson, it was the 900th point of his career.

The Red Wings persisted and scored on another power-play opportunity at 17:02 of the third when former Erie Otters forward Alex DeBrincat buried his 21st goal.

A pass attempt by Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin from Pittsburgh’s right circle was blocked by Karlsson. The ensuing rebound bounced free near the lower right hashmark, but neither Karlsson nor Wotherspoon could get a handle on it. That allowed DeBrincat to claim the puck then dished a pass to the lower left circle for Raymond, who fanned a bit on a forehand shot that went wide on the near side. The puck clunked off the end boards and trickled toward the right of the cage, where DeBrincat was able to jab in a backhander past Silovs’ left skate. Raymond and Larkin logged assists.

In overtime, the Penguins wasted little time in securing victory.

Rust raced into the offensive zone on the left wing, pulled up above the near circle and offloaded the puck to an approaching Letang at the center point. Letang surged toward the left wing boards, hit the brakes and slid a cross-ice pass to the opposite circle for Crosby. Curling to his left, Crosby flicked a backhand pass to the high slot where a racing Letang swatted a one-timer past Finnie and Talbot’s blocker. Crosby and Rust had assists.

It was only the third game the Penguins have won this season beyond regulation (2-4 in overtime and 1-5 in shootouts). But it was their second consecutive victory beyond the bounds of 60 minutes, including a 4-3 home shootout win against the Montreal Canadiens on Dec. 21.

Letang is obviously happy the Penguins are having slightly better nonregulation outcomes as of late. But he wasn’t quite sure why they’re getting better results.

“You’re flipping a coin, honestly,” Letang said. “Yes, you want to win the draw in the middle. You want to be the one with the possession. But as soon there’s a play, there’s a chance, there’s a good chance it’s going back the other way. And if you don’t score, you hit the post, it goes the other way. Now your goalie has to make a save, or you have to make a great defensive play. So, it could go either way.

“We have to keep working on it and try to be a difference maker when you step on the ice and try to end those games.”

The Penguins could have ended up with an unappetizing result through a variety of impediments Thursday. But they were undeterred.

“It feels like a big resilient group here right now,” Silovs said. “A lot of things happen which shouldn’t happen. A bounce from the boards, they score a weird goal then they get like eight, nine power plays. I’ve never seen anything like this. Every single call is a (penalty kill).

“We just did a great job. A credit to the guys killing the penalties, blocking shots and managing to finish in (overtime).”

Letang isn’t finished pursuing moments like the one he had Thursday.

“We grinded for every little inch that we got tonight,” Letang said. “It was tough for guys that sit on the bench for four or five minutes straight (during penalty kills) and now we have to go out there and have explosiveness or speed. It’s pretty hard.

“We stayed with it. It could have been frustrating, but we did a pretty good job.”

Notes:

• Forward Yegor Chinakhov made his Penguins debut after being acquired in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday. Opening the contest on the right wing of the third line, Chinakhov logged 10:28 of ice time on 15 shifts, including 1:03 on the power play, and recorded one shot on three attempts. He also tabulated one blocked shot.

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• Chinakhov became the fifth player to wear No. 59 in a game of consequence for the Penguins. His predecessors (per PittsburghHockey.net):

Robert Dome, Carl Sneep, Jayson Megna, Jake Guentzel

• Prior to the game, the Penguins recognized former All-Star forward Lowell MacDonald, who died on Sunday at the age of 84: