Penguins Complete Western Sweep, Nip Canucks, 3-2

While Old Man Winter was busy dumping a foot of snow on the ‘burgh back east, the Penguins defeated the Canucks, 3-2, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver. In the process, completing a sweep of their four-game western swing with an exclamation point.

Eager to polish off their downtrodden hosts, the Pens appeared to snag a first-period lead on a goal by the Russian rifle, Egor Chinakhov. Alas, Chinny was offside on the play and the would-be, game-opener was overturned on a coach’s challenge. To keep the ledger even, the Canucks had a goal waived off as well due to goalie interference by old friend Teddy Blueger.

Nonplussed, the (Semi)-Comrade Line got us off and running at 5:24 of the second period. Chinakhov slipped a short breakout pass to Tommy Novak, who flew head-up into the Canucks’ end before feeding Evgeni Malkin near the net. Geno snapped the puck top shelf over Kevin Lankinen’s shoulder for the lead.

The Pens doubled their lead three minutes later, and on a goal by a hometown boy to boot. Anthony Mantha fed Ryan Shea in the left circle, who dished a shot/pass into the slot for rookie Ben Kindel. The puck deflected in off No. 81’s skate, sending his 100-plus friends and family members in attendance into a tizzy.

Turns out, the Coquitlam, BC, native was just getting warmed up. With less than three minutes to play in the period, Kindel took a buttery feed from linemate Justin Brazeau in the high slot and ripped an absolute bullet past Lankinen, shattering the net cam in the process. Talk about a bullseye!

However, the Canucks were far from done. With Elias Pettersson blanketing a prone Stuart Skinner, Jake DeBrusk popped the biscuit into the vacant upper part of the net. At first blush, it looked like an open-and-shut case of goaltender interference. However, Blake Lizotte appeared to make contact with Pettersson, and we know how our history with challenges go.

Coach Dan Muse wisely elected to play on.

The Canucks closed to within 3-2 with six minutes to play on a goal that deflected in off Blueger from the doorstep. That’s when things started to get really hairy, as the boys in blue pressed furiously for the tying goal.

Fortunately, Skinner was an absolute brick wall between the pipes. With just under a minute to play, Big Stu stoned Brock Boeser with a diving, chest-first stop. Shades of Marc-Andre Fleury’s Cup-saving stop in 2009 on Nicklas Lidstrom.

He proceeded to rob ex-Pen Drew O’Connor and Boeser in the closing seconds to seal the victory.

Puckpourri

How great was it to see Kindel to get those two goals, and in front of his loved ones to boot. In the process, snapping a 19-game goalless skein. And how about the release on his second goal. Positively Chinny-esque!

Kris Letang returned to the lineup following a two-game absence. Tanger logged a game-high 26:28 of ice time, due in part to the absence of Jack St. Ivany, who exited early with an upper-body injury. Connor Clifton sat out.

Speaking of injuries, Malkin appeared to be in pain on the bench near the end. He’s been designated day-to-day. Pray it’s not a recurrence of his previous injury, thought to be a shoulder. We can ill afford to lose the big guy.

My, has Skinner been tough of late. He was a rock, especially in the closing minute with the rubber flying all over the Pens’ zone. The big guy stopped 30 of 32 shots and could easily have earned a star. (FYI: Kindel was the top star, the galloping Geno the third.)

In his last eight games, Stu has a 7-1 record, coupled with a sterling .934 save percentage.

I commented a while back that this team has a Vegas Misfits quality about it. A bunch of divergent pieces imported from different places that miraculously fit together hand in glove. In my dreams, I see us making a similar run to the Cup Final.

The Canucks’ lineup featured four former Pens, including Blueger, O’Connor, Marcus Pettersson and Pierre-Olivier Joseph. Not to mention GM Patrik Allvin and POHO Jim Rutherford in the executive suite.

Blueger, who just recently returned from a prolonged injury, seemed to play with a burr under his saddle against his old team.

Just how downtrodden are the Canucks? They’re 1-11-2 in their past 14 games.

On the flip side of the coin, the Pens are 11-2-2 since Christmas. With a record of 26-14-11 and 63 points, we continue to occupy second place in the Metro, with a four-point bulge over the Islanders. Good thing, because there are slew of teams in the Atlantic playing really strong hockey.

Next up, the Blackhawks at home on Thursday night.