The Vancouver Canucks took a 3-0 lead in this game in the first 7:05 of the first period. It took them 9:25 to blow that lead. The game was 3-3 after 20 minutes. It’s the first time in franchise history the team has blown a three-goal lead in the first.
Spencer Martin started in net for the Canucks; Casey DeSmith for the Penguins, although he’d be replaced by Dustin Tokarski after the third Vancouver goal.
Canucks Goal Scorers
1st Period
1-0 Canucks – Even Strength – Conor Garland (7) from Quinn Hughes and Luke Schenn, 4:46
A solo dash up the left wing by Garland, with a dipsy doo past a D-man, ends with a top-shelf wrister.
2-0 Canucks – Even Strength – Brock Boeser (8) from Bo Horvat and Ilya Mikheyev, 6:40
In a scramble from a loose puck in front, Boeser snuck into traffic and backhanded it past DeSmith.
3-0 Canucks – Even Strength – Quinn Hughes (2) from Will Lockwood and Elias Pettersson, 7:05
A soft shot from the left point through a ton of traffic trickled past DeSmith who got yanked.
— Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, and Jason Zucker would respond with goals for the Penguins before the period was over.
Uh Oh
Vancouver didn’t seem to have the same pep in the 2nd period, especially after Malkin picked up his second goal of the game on an assist from Zucker to give Pittsburgh a 4-3 lead. Zucker had stolen the puck from an unsuspecting Mikheyev at the Vancouver blueline.
The goal came in a 4-on-4 situation.
When a Pettersson hooking penalty ended, the Canucks gained the man advantage. It might have been labelled the “we don’t give a $%#& power play, it was that ugly.
Rickard Rakell scored not too long after on a Pittsburgh power play to make it a 5-3 Penguins lead.
Vancouver would earn a 5-on-3 advantage for :36 seconds late in the 2nd period. They wouldn’t score with the two-man advantage and they wouldn’t score on the ensuing 5-on-4.
At this point the Canucks were 0-for-5 on the power play.
3rd Period
5-4 Penguins – Even Strength – Travis Dermott (1) from Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Brock Boeser, 12:52
Dermott snuck down low from the right point and backhanded home a big carom off the end boards.
— Shots on goal: The Canucks outshot the Penguins 36-24. The Pittsburgh power play went 2-for-5, the Vancouver power play went 0-for-5.
