But the crash didnâ€t happen until the second period, and had they gotten more out of an impressive first, the Canucks might have been riding a four-game road winning streak into Thursdayâ€s game in Nashville. Instead, the Penguins scored three times in a little more than three minutes with the Canucks running on empty in the middle frame and won 5-1 at PPG Paints Arena.
“We could have been up three or four nothing in the first 10 minutes, but it didn’t happen,†Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “I think you run out of a little bit of gas, you put yourself in a situation where you take some penalties. . . you probably, most likely, wouldn’t take. So, I mean, a lot of good things early and, you know, we looked like we just ran out a little bit of gas.â€
The energy boost the Canucks hoped would be a byproduct of inserting four new players into their lineup, two directly from the minors, since Sundayâ€s emotional and injury-riddled win in Washington never really materialized.
Conor Garland, the best Canuck skater this season, did blister a low slapshot into the Penguins†net to make it 1-0 at 1:18 after a beautiful touch pass into space by Elias Pettersson. And although weâ€re not sure about 3-0 or 4-0, Canucks had other excellent chances to double their lead, like Jake DeBrusk failing to convert Quinn Hughes†pass at the top of the crease and Max Sasson getting stopped on a backhand in the low slot.
And even during Evander Kaneâ€s hooking penalty at 8:23, Pettersson missed the net on a shorthanded two-on-one.
Shots were 5-0 Vancouver at the time of Kaneâ€s penalty, and 20-8 for Pittsburgh from then until the second intermission.
“It’s definitely been a lot of games in a short amount of time,†Canuck winger Drew Oâ€Connor said. “But I don’t think we look at it like we won three, so we can take our foot off the gas now. We want to win every game, so itâ€s disappointing not getting this one.
“Obviously, the power play for them was a big difference. Those two power play goals kind of puts it out of reach. I don’t know if we let up a little bit and they started to dictate play, but I think we had a little stretch there where they kind of took over and we didn’t push back enough.â€
With five players injured or on leave, the Canucks simply donâ€t have the margins to win games if theyâ€re getting outplayed on special teams and winning only 31 per cent of faceoffs (18 out of 58) like they did Tuesday.
Pittsburghâ€s power play was 2-for-5, Vancouverâ€s 0-for-3.
While the Penguins look like a kind of Heroes-of-Hockey farewell tour with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson headlining the lineup, the players who did damage on Tuesday included Connor Dewar and Tommy Novak, Justin Brazeau and Anthony Mantha.
It was a systemic victory for the Penguins, who simply won most of the puck battles in the middle period, were better with the puck, forced the Canucks to defend and outmuscled them around the net.
And to top it off, Vancouverâ€s former third-string goalie, Penguins starter Arturs Silovs, outplayed the goalie who made him dispensable, Kevin Lankinen.
Lankinen was beaten five times on 25 shots. Silovs couldnâ€t stop the first shot he faced, but saved the next 23.
“Honestly, I think that they just stuck to their game and we had some turnovers that werenâ€t happening in the first and caught up to us in the second,†DeBrusk said. “They got some momentum, and those guys know what to do with momentum over there.â€
“I don’t know, there’s lots of guys that have been called up,†DeBrusk said. “They’re excited and they want to stay, and they bring excitement and energy. I don’t necessarily know if it was a letdown in that sense. We had a good first period. We were in the driver’s seat and then they took it to us.â€
Despite the Canucks needing goals and lacking a couple of key offensive players, DeBrusk logged only 13:50 of ice time on the first line. Pettersson finished with 16:56, and although Garland played 19:51, his even-strength ice time of 9:38 was third-lowest among Vancouver forwards.
Of course, Pettersson also went 5-17 on faceoffs, which didnâ€t help the power play.
“It starts with me,†he said. “If I win more draws, we start with the puck. I think I was 1-5 (on the power play); that’s not good enough. Keep having to break the puck in instead of starting with the puck. Everything starts with me winning the draw. Start from there.â€
Max Sasson was 1-7 on faceoffs and got overpowered by Mantha on the Penguinâ€s goal that capped the three-goal explosion at 17:29 of the second period. Even the Canucks†faceoff ace, Aatu Raty, was 9-9. But put another way, the rest of the team was 9-31. Crosby went 15-5 in the circle for Pittsburgh, and the Penguins†top penalty-killer, Noel Acciari, was 11-1.
“The faceoff is so important,†Oâ€Connor said. “It feels a lot different when you start with the puck every shift instead of kind of chasing the puck. It’s just a different feeling. I think we’ve been pretty good on draws most of the year. It makes a big difference when we’re winning those, so that’s another thing that we’re always working on.â€
Foote said there is a “good chance†top winger Brock Boeser will be back from his personal leave for Thursdayâ€s road-trip finale against the Predators. Penalty-killing centre Teddy Blueger, who was questionable for Pittsburgh, could also play in Nashville.
But the Canucks just have to be better. They need to be sharper with the puck, more effective on special teams and get more saves with Thatcher Demko in net. They also canâ€t sag if things donâ€t go their way early. Their three-game winning streak was built on resilience.
“You don’t want to lose two in a row,†DeBrusk said.
“We did have a good start to the trip,†Oâ€Connor said. “Weâ€ve got one more to close it out and hopefully make it a really good trip.â€
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