Evgeni Malkin had two goals and two assists Tuesday as the Pittsburgh Penguins erased a three-goal deficit with five unanswered before holding on to beat the visiting Vancouver Canucks, 5-4.
Jason Zucker added a goal and an assist, Sidney Crosby and Rickard Rakell also scored, and Bryan Rust and Ty Smith each had two assists for the Penguins, who won their second straight immediately following a six-game skid (0-4-2).
Pittsburgh goaltender Casey DeSmith gave up three goals on five shots and was pulled for Dustin Tokarski, who in his Penguins debut made 18 saves.
Quinn Hughes and Brock Boeser each had a goal and an assist, Conor Garland and Travis Dermott also scored and Luke Schenn had two assists for the Canucks, who have lost five of six.
Vancouver goaltender Spencer Martin made 31 saves.
It took the Canucks just a little over seven minutes to carve out a 3-0 lead.
Garland opened scoring at 4:46 of the first when he scored far side on a backhander from the left dot.
At 6:40, Boeser increased it to 2-0 on a backhander from the right hash marks that went under DeSmith’s pads.
Hughes struck 25 seconds later on a knuckler from the left point, making it 3-0 and chasing DeSmith.
Pittsburgh began its comeback during a five-on-three power play less than two minutes after the goalie switch. Malkin, from the right dot, blasted the puck off Martin’s glove at 8:57 of the first.
Crosby cut it to 3-2 at 14:25 of the first when he redirected a feed from Brian Dumoulin. That gave Crosby 1,457 career points, tying him with Teemu Selanne for 17th all-time.
At 16:30 of the first, Zucker pulled Pittsburgh into a 3-3 tie. Malkin won a faceoff back to Zucker, who moved into the slot and roofed a shot.
During four-on-four play, Malkin scored again to give the Penguins their first lead, 4-3, off a give-and-go with Zucker at 7:58 of the second. Rakell had an easy tap-in off a rebound during a power play to make it 5-3 at 14:31 of the second.
At 12:52 of the third, Dermott closed it to 5-4 on a backhander for his first of the season.
–Field Level Media
