Fourth line leads charge in victory over Penguins
PITTSBURGH Without Elias Pettersson to pull off a moment or three of wizardry, you knew the Vancouver Canucks could spare little margin for error against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night.
They were near-perfect for 56 minutes and 46 seconds of Tuesdays’ game.
Leading 2-1, the Canucks had played a pretty tidy third period, but superstars don’t often miss when you make a mistake and when the Canucks turned the puck over in the Penguins’ zone to Evgeni Malkin, the big Russian quickly sprung Phil Kessel and Carl Hagelin.
Kessel threaded a pass around Erik Gudbranson and Hagelin was Johnny-on-the-spot to finish it.
It was a rare blemish on what was, overall, a strong road performance by the Canucks.
Brock Boeser’s goal in overtime was a deserved reward.
They came flying out of the gate, didn’t get fazed by an early goal against for the Penguins’ Jake Guentzel, found a pair of their own and then played smart hockey over the game’s final two periods.
Anders Nilsson shook off the early goal against to put in a thirdstraight fine performance and the Canucks got goals from Ben Hutton and Brandon Sutter.
Boeser’s overtime snipe saw him fire it through Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith off a shot from the left wing. Here’s what we learned ...
THE HUTTON SHOW
The late turnover came when Jake Virtanen lost the puck on the
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side boards and then Hutton tried to force the puck back deep. But Malkin intervened. It was unfortunate, given the strong game that Hutton had otherwise.
Hutton got his first goal in a year. He hadn’t scored in a year and a half. He hadn’t scored on the road in nearly two.
But there he was, firing the puck home from the heart of the slot to get the Canucks even at 1-1, halfway through the first period.
He spent much of 2017-18 in the doghouse, but since getting back into the lineup in the third game of the season, the second on this road trip, he’s done nothing but improve every game.
He nearly scored again in the third period, when he wired a shot from the top of the slot, after he joined the rush and received a pass from Nikolay Goldobin.
Paired with Gudbranson, the Canucks dominated in shot attempts when Hutton was on the ice, finishing the night up seven shot attempts on the faltering Penguins.
That’s especially notable as this is a duo that’s had many struggles over the past three seasons.
ANOTHER STRONG NIGHT FOR NILSSON
Nilsson was outstanding in Tampa. Then he was excellent again in Sunrise, Fla.
It wasn’t really a surprise that he was put in net to start his thirdstraight game.
Early on, you couldn’t help but think, “Oh boy.” He hadn’t faced a shot when Guentzel came racing in.
He snuck a shot between Nilsson’s arm and body off a 2-on-1 rush. It was the kind of goal that the NHL’s smaller chest protectors are meant to encourage. The smaller gear forces big goalies like Nilsson to focus much more on technique.
Nilsson has been encouraged by goalie coach Ian Clark to stay bigger in the hope of counter-balancing the new, smaller surface area.
FUNKY FOURTH LINE
The Canucks were the better team in the first period and came away with a 2-1 lead to prove it. Much of the credit should go to the fourth-line trio of Tim Schaller, Markus Granlund and Tyler Motte.
The trio attacked with speed on every forecheck and were stout in their own end.
After the early Penguins goal, the Canucks didn’t lose their energy, though, and kept pressing. They were having great success on the forecheck and it was fitting that the fourth line created both goals.
The first went to Hutton, scoring his first goal in 77 games, as Schaller and Granlund did well down low to create trouble for the Pittsburgh defence, with Granlund eventually finding a loose puck and passing to a wide-open Hutton, who made no mistake.
The second goal came on a similar scramble down low, this time normal third-line pivot Sutter finding the puck loose to the right of the cage and flipping the puck over a prone DeSmith.