But the collapse only came in the second period, and had they gotten more from an impressive first period, the Canucks could have continued their four-game winning streak on the road heading into Thursday's game in Nashville. Instead, the Penguins scored three goals in just over three minutes and the Canucks were left empty-handed in the middle frame to win 5-1 at PPG Paints Arena.
“We could have scored three or four zeroes in the first 10 minutes, but we didn't,” Canucks coach Adam Foote said. “I think you're going to run out of some gas, you're going to put yourself in a situation where you're going to get some penalties… you're probably not going to take them. So, I mean, a lot of good stuff early on and, you know, we looked like we just ran out of some gas.”
The boost in energy the Canucks had hoped for would be a byproduct of adding four new players to the lineup, two directly from the minors, as Sunday's emotional and injury-riddled victory in Washington failed to materialize.
Conor GarlandThe Canuck's best skater this season took a low shot into the Penguins net to make it 1-0 at 1:18 after a beautiful pass into space. Elias Pettersson. And while we're not sure if it's 3-0 or 4-0, the Canucks had other great chances to double their lead, like Jake DeBrusk missing a pass from Quinn Hughes at the top of the crease and Max Sasson being stopped on a backhand low.
And even on Evander Kane's penalty at 8:23, Pettersson missed the net while shorthanded two-on-one.
At the time of Kane's penalty, the score was 5-0 in Vancouver, and from then until the second intermission – 20-8 in favor of Pittsburgh.
“There were definitely a lot of games played in a short period of time,” Canuck forward Drew O'Connor said. “But I don't think we're looking at it like we've won three, so we can take our foot off the gas now. We want to win every game, so it's a shame we didn't get this game.”
“Obviously the power play made a big difference for them. Those two power play goals kind of put it out of reach. I don't know if we relaxed a little bit and they started dictating the game, but I think we had a little stretch where they kind of took over and we didn't put up enough resistance.”
With five players injured or on leave, the Canucks simply have no chance of winning if they get outplayed on special teams and win only 31 percent of faceoffs (18 of 58), as they did on Tuesday.
Pittsburgh's power play was 2-for-5, Vancouver's was 0-for-3.
While the Penguins look like something of a “Heroes of Hockey” farewell tour with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and Erik Karlsson leading the lineup, players who did damage 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 pucks in the middle period, had better puck possession, forced the Canucks to defend and outplayed them in front of the net.
And to top it all off, former Vancouver third-string goaltender and Penguins starter Arturs Silovs outplayed the goaltender who made him irreplaceable, Kevin Lankinen.
Lankinen lost five times on 25 shots. Silov was unable to parry the first blow, but parried the next 23.
“Honestly, I think they just stuck to their game and we had some turnovers that we didn't have in the first season that caught up with us in the second,” DeBrusk said. “They have some momentum and these guys know what to do with it.”
“I don’t know, there’s a lot of guys that got drafted,” DeBrusk said. “They're fired up and want to stay and they bring excitement and energy. I'm not sure if it was a disappointment in that sense. We had a good first period. We were in the driver's seat and then they gave it to us.”
Despite the Canucks needing goals and missing a couple of key forwards, DeBrusk only logged 13:50 of ice time on the front line. Pettersson finished with 16:56, and although Garland played 19:51, his equal time on ice (9:38) was the third-highest among Vancouver forwards.
Of course, Pettersson also went 5-17 on faceoffs, which didn't help the power play.
“It all starts with me,” he said. “If I win more draws, we'll start with the puck. I think I was 1-5 (on the power play); that's not enough. Keep hitting the puck instead of starting with the puck. It starts with me winning the draw. Start from there.”
Max Sasson led 1-7 on faceoffs, but Mantha beat him on the Penguin goal that capped a three-goal explosion at 17:29 of the second period. Even the Canucks' best player, Aatu Rathi, went 9-9. In other words, the rest of the team was 9-31. Crosby was 15-5 in the circle for Pittsburgh, while the Penguins' leading penalty killer, Noel Achiari, was 11-1.
“The faceoff is very important,” O'Connor said. “When you start every shift with the puck instead of chasing it, it feels a lot different. It's just a different feeling. I think we've done a pretty good job of breaking draws most of the year. It makes a big difference when we win them, so that's another thing we're constantly working on.”
Foote said there is a “good chance” that top winger Brock Boeser will return from his personal leave for the final road game against the Predators on Thursday. Nashville could also feature penalty-killing center Teddy Blueger, who was questionable for Pittsburgh.
But the Canucks simply have to be better. They need to be sharper with the puck, be more effective on special teams and make more saves when Thatcher Demko is in net. They also won't be able to sag if things don't go according to plan sooner. Their three-game winning streak was built on resilience.
“You don’t want to lose two games in a row,” DeBrusk said.
“We had a really good start to the trip,” O'Connor said. “We have one more to finish it off and hopefully make this a really good trip.”
