Penguins overpower Canucks
PITTSBURGH — Training-camp walk-on Jack Skille had a pair of breakaways. Waiver-wire refugee Reid Boucher and minor-league call-up Brendan Gaunce had chances to make plays on two-onones. Markus Granlund hit the crossbar.
These were the Vancouver Canucks who had the best chances to generate goals Tuesday against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Penguins? They were led merely by Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby and Phil Kessel.
By the end, the Canucks were simply overpowered, but they weren’t overawed playing the Stanley Cup champions, playing to keep their NHL season afloat while suddenly missing critical centres Bo Horvat and Brandon Sutter.
Without skill to match their will, the Canucks were beaten 4-0, but hung within a goal of the Penguins until Vancouver defending finally collapsed in the third period and Pittsburgh scored three times.
Horvat injured his foot and Sutter his hand or wrist during Sunday’s 4-2 win in Buffalo. Each injury is being called day-to-day.
Horvat leads Vancouver in scoring and Sutter is second in ice time among forwards. Their replacements, respectively, were Gaunce and Jayson Megna, another player who began the season in the AHL and who was shifted from the wing to face the Penguins.
“We knew it would be hard today, especially in the middle,” veteran winger Jannik Hansen said. “A lot of stuff goes through your centremen. We knew this was a very gifted offensive team. They had their zone time, no question about that. [But] we were right there. We were there until they scored their second or third goal, but it’s not like we didn’t have our chances.”
Penguin Matt Murray stopped Skille when he was in alone on goal late in the second period and early in the third — the best of the 29 saves the goalie made as Vancouver was shut out for the seventh time this season.
“I just wish they would have found their way into the back of the net,” Skille lamented. “That definitely would have helped tonight. You don’t really feel the pressure; you just want to do whatever you can do to help the team.”
Goalie Ryan Miller was brilliant for 40 minutes, but needed teammates to be better in front of him in the third period.
“We knew what kind of game we needed to play,” Miller said. “You saw what happened when we got away from it in the third. We started stretching things out and leaving good ice and it didn’t turn out so well.”
What Miller and the Canucks really needed was Horvat and Sutter, and injured winger Sven Baertschi, and a machine to transport Daniel and Henrik Sedin back in time.
“Guys came in confident to take on those roles, but we just had to score on our chances and we didn’t tonight,” Gaunce said.
Malkin, just back from injury after missing seven games, Kessel, Jake Guentzel and Matt Cullen scored for the Penguins, who outshot the Canucks 42-29 and are an absurd 23-3-3 at home this season. Crosby collected his 999th NHL point with a late assist.
Now 2-3 on this difficult sixgame road trip, the Canucks must beat the surging St. Louis Blues on Thursday to hit .500.