The Vancouver Canucks hope to take another step toward their first Pacific Division title in team history when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.
Vancouver is coming off a 3-2 overtime win Saturday against the Atlantic Division-leading Boston Bruins, ending a season-long four-game losing streak.
The Canucks came into the game tied in points with Boston with 80.
Despite their recent skid, the Canucks have been remarkably consistent this season, racking up 27 points in their first 20 games (13-6-1), another 28 in their second 20 (13-5-2) and 27 points in the most recent 20 (12-5-3).
The four-game losing streak didn’t even cost Vancouver ground in the Pacific Division race because its nearest pursuers, the Vegas Golden Knights and Edmonton Oilers, also went 4-5-1 in their previous 10 games heading into this week, allowing the Canucks to maintain a nine-point lead over the Golden Knights.
The Canucks trailed 2-0 at the start of the third period against Boston before Brock Boeser scored at 12:49 and Filip Hronek with 1:11 left and Thatcher Demko off the ice for an extra attacker.
Boeser, who had scored just one goal in the first 10 games since playing in the NHL All-Star Game on Feb. 3, won the game at 1:34 of overtime. It was his second goal of the game.
“Our bench was pretty calm in the sense that we weren’t panicking. I like that,” Vancouver coach Rick Tocchet said. “The last three, four games, the bench would have been a little different, see a little bit of frustration, slamming sticks and stuff. I didn’t see that (Saturday) night. There wasn’t any frustration even though we’re down 2-0.”
J.T. Miller, who had three assists against the Bruins, said it felt like the Canucks outplayed the Bruins the entire game, even though they were trailing through most of it.
“Let’s not make it more than it is, it’s just a hockey game in February, but timing-wise it feels good just for the way it’s been going a little bit lately,” he said. “Whether we won or lost, I thought that we just played an awesome 60 minutes.”
Two days between games also allowed the Canucks to get in a full practice on Sunday for the first time since Feb. 16.
The Penguins, meanwhile, spent their Sunday in a back-and-forth affair against the visiting Philadelphia Flyers before holding on for a 7-6 victory.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and three assists and Drew O’Connor scored for the third straight game for Pittsburgh, which will be trying to win three in a row for just the third time this season and first in 2024.
Pittsburgh entered Monday still seven points behind the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division and seven points behind the Tampa Bay Lightning for the final wild-card spot.
The Penguins haven’t missed the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since a four-season stretch from 2002-06.
“You want to start building something solid because it’s just going to get harder and harder,” defenseman Kris Letang said. “If you (get into the playoffs), it’s going to be even harder, so you have to create a solid identity for your team, and right now is the time to do it.”
Boeser and Crosby had two goals apiece when these teams last met on Jan. 11 in Pittsburgh. The Canucks won 4-3 on an overtime goal by Elias Pettersson.
–Field Level Media
