In Pittsburgh, it was apparently not good enough to let a 2-0 lead slip away, on Tuesday night, the Vancouver Canucks let a 3-0 first period lead drift away in a 5-4 loss to the Penguins.
Connor Garland, Brock Boeser, and Quinn Hughes scored for the Canucks in the first period for the 3-0 advantage.
“We got the lead and any time you jump out to an early lead like that, you kind of relax a little bit,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Once they caught fire, they were pretty dangerous the rest of the [first] period.”
The Pens scored five straight after that, including two from Evgeni Malkin.
“On the bench, we believed we could come back,” Malkin said. “It’s how we are as a team. It’s a huge win. Guys support each other.”
Casey DeSmith got the start and yielded all three first period goals to the Canucks, he made two saves before getting the hook.
Dustin Tokarski made 18 saves in relief for the win.
“I was a little nervous, but good nervous,” Tokarski said. “It’s fun to get in a game and help out. … Going in, you just have to go in and play, and trust your instincts. A win’s a win, the guys battled.”
Pittsburgh improved to 21-13-6.
“I just think a lot of it, for me, starts with our leadership,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Those guys, they were pretty vocal on the bench. I thought they played an inspired game. Even though we were down a few goals, we felt like we were carrying a lot of the play.
“So, we just tried to stay with it. I think the character of our leadership steps up in those types of occasions. They did it again for us tonight.”
Jason Zucker and Sidney Crosby had markers in the five-goal outburst fro the Pens.
“I don’t think it’s mental,” Garland said. “They just have a lot of talent and made a push. We didn’t handle it. … Try to have a good shift in their end, have to put a stop to it. We didn’t, they just kept going.”
Rickard Rakell had a power play goal for the Penguins, his strike extended their lead to 5-.-3.
The Canucks got one back at 12:52 off a marker from Travis Dermott for the 5-4 final.
“I’ve got to keep working,” Boeser said. “I’ve got to keep pushing to play good hockey for our team and keep producing for our team. That’s all that matters, I think.”
The Canucks dropped to 17-20-3.
Spencer Martin made 31 saves in the loss.
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