Pittsburgh Penguins defeat Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks concluded their five-game road swing with a 3-1 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday 17 November.
How it happened
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby was just coming out of the penalty box and hovering around center ice when Maxime Talbot found him with a pass to send Crosby in on a breakaway. Crosby would make no mistake,
firing the puck past a helpless Roberto Luongo in the Vancouver goal.
Up 1-0 in the second period it was Talbot who played the role of opportunist by controlling the puck behind the Vancouver net and wrapping it around as the puck managed to sneak by Luongo and in for a
shorthanded goal.
The Penguins got their third when Michael Rupp played a perfect pass through the crease for Aaron Asham to eventually whack home past a sprawling Luongo.
Just over 30 seconds later and Vancouver picked up a consolation goal through Dan Hamhuis who tallied his second of the season, but that was all the Canucks could muster as the Penguins shut them down
in the third period.
What they're saying
Crosby has earned the reputation of having perfect timing and he admitted that good timing played a major role in helping him notch the game's first goal.
"I thought I might be able to sneak out behind them and it was perfect timing," he told reporters after the game. "As soon as I came out, the puck was there. It was a good bounce."
Several of the Canucks' players would go on to say after the game that there was nothing particularly special about the Penguins' game plan, and that Pittsburgh pulled out the win just by the fact that
they were able to capitalize on their chances while the Canucks did not.
"It's unfortunate, I don't think Pittsburgh did anything special," Luongo said after the game. "They capitalized on some of the mistakes we made."
"This is a team I think we should beat," Daniel Sedin said. "They gave up a lot of shots and we didn't capitalize."
Despite the loss, the Canucks still sit atop the Northwest Division. The Canucks get a second chance at trying to avenge their conference semi-final defeat last season at the hands of the Chicago Blackhawks
whom they host on Saturday 20 November. The Blackhawks won the previous meeting 2-1 in overtime last month.
With the win the Penguins have now won three of their last four games and are inching closer to their Pennsylvania rivals, the Philadelphia Flyers, who lead the Atlantic Division. The Penguins now get
set to host the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday night.
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