Skip to main content

Miller makes 31 saves, Canucks blank Penguins 5-0

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) Ryan Miller and the Vancouver Canucks bounced back from a poor effort in a big way.

Miller made 31 saves for his sixth shutout of the season and 35th of his career as the Canucks blanked the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0 on Saturday night.

Alexandre Burrows had a goal and an assist, and Bo Horvat, Shawn Matthias, Zack Kassian and Daniel Sedin each also scored for Vancouver, which lost 5-1 to San Jose on Thursday night.

''I like this one mainly because the attitude we came out with was sustained during the game,'' Miller said. ''It was the right kind of attitude. We wanted to have a response for the last game.''

Down 2-0 after the first, the Penguins thought they had gotten back in the game early in the second, but Derrick Pouliot's shot that hit the post and then Miller was disallowed after it was ruled the net was off before the puck crossed the line.

''I don't think the net being dislodged had any real affect or bearing on the puck,'' Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby said. ''It's tough, you see that one go either way, but it didn't feel like we were getting any bounces here.''

The Canucks, who also had a goal of their own disallowed thanks to a quick whistle, stretched their lead to three at 15:02 when Matthias broke in on a 2-on-1 and ripped his ninth of the season past Greiss.

A healthy scratch the last three games, Kassian then picked up his third goal of the season and first in 22 games after Linden Vey intercepted Greiss' bobbled clearing attempt behind the net and fed his wide-open linemate in front at 17:21.

Sedin made it 5-0 on the power play - his 11th of the season - at 2:05 of the third after a nice feed from Burrows. The goal was the 115th of his career on the power play and moved him past former captain Markus Naslund for the all-time franchise mark.

''I thought our guys came with a real good effort,'' Canucks coach Willie Desjardins said. ''It wasn't an effort by 15 guys. It was the whole team.''

Vancouver backup goalie Eddie Lack posted a 3-0 shutout in the only other meeting between the clubs on Dec. 4, and Miller made a nice stop on Brandon Sutter's breakaway midway through the third to keep the Penguins off the scoreboard.

Thomas Greiss stopped 22 shots for Pittsburgh.

''Just a poor start,'' Crosby said. ''I think you can tell the first 10 minutes, they were desperate, they came out hard and you fall back two goals and (you're) probably guilty of taking some chances when you fall behind that early and it was kind of uphill from there.''

The Canucks came out much stronger against the Penguins than they did against the Sharks, and opened the scoring at 7:13 of the first period when Burrows tipped home Radim Vrbata's one-timer on the power play for his 12th of the season. The goal, which marked the first time the Canucks had scored first in the last seven games, snapped a 4-for-46 stretch with the man-advantage dating to Jan. 6.

Horvat then made it 2-0 at 10:46 after pouncing on Evgeni Malkin's turnover at the Pittsburgh blue line. The Canucks' rookie winger fed Derek Dorsett, who fanned on his shot but still managed to get the puck back to Horvat, and he banged a shot past Greiss for his fifth.

NOTES: Vrbata's assist on the first goal was the 500th point of his career. ... Canucks defenseman Christopher Tanev missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury.