Vancouver Canucks allowed five consecutive goals after after scoring three consecutive goals of their own in first 7:05 of the opening period to lose to the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday night January 10th, 2023.

Evgeni Malkin posted a four-point performance to propel Pittsburgh Penguins to victory.

The Penguins erased a three-goal deficit in the first period as the NHL maintained one of its highest rates of multi-goal comeback wins ever at this stage of a season.

Despite his team falling behind 3-0 in the first 7:05 of play, Malkin factored on four of Pittsburgh’s five consecutive goals to help the Penguins become the ninth different team to register a three-goal comeback win this season – Edmonton (Oct. 12, 2022 & Nov. 26, 2022) are the only club with multiple such victories.

At 36 years and 163 days,Malkin became the oldest Penguins player with a four-point game since Bill Guerin (2-2—4 on Dec. 23, 2009; 39 years, 44 days).

Brock Boeser and Quinn Hughes each had a goal and an assist, and Spencer Martin made 31 saves for the Canucks (17-20-3), who have lost five of six.

“We got the lead and any time you jump out to an early lead like that, you kind of relax a little bit,” Vancouver coach Bruce Boudreau said. “Once they caught fire, they were pretty dangerous the rest of the [first] period.”

Vancouver and Pittsburgh are no strangers to back-and-forth, high-scoring affairs following a Nov. 27, 2019 matchup – Pittsburgh built a 2-0 lead before Vancouver went ahead 4-2. The Canucks would eventually extend their lead to 6-3 before five unanswered goals gave the Penguins an 8-6 victory.

“I don’t think it’s mental,” Canucks forward Conor Garland said. “They just have a lot of talent and made a push. We didn’t handle it. … Try to have a good shift in their end, have to put a stop to it. We didn’t, they just kept going.”

Travis Dermott scored on a backhand to the right of the net at 12:52 of the third period for the 5-4 final. It was his first goal in six games this season.

Garland put the Canucks ahead 1-0 at 4:46 of the first, driving to the left face-off circle for a wrist shot.

Boeser made it 2-0 at 6:40 after scoring on a backhand from the slot.

“I’ve got to keep working,” Boeser said. “I’ve got to keep pushing to play good hockey for our team and keep producing for our team. That’s all that matters, I think.”

Hughes extended it to 3-0 at 7:05 with a wrist shot, resulting in Tokarski replacing DeSmith.

The Canucks have allowed at least five goals in three of their past four games. They lost 7-4 to the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday and 6-2 to the New York Islanders on Jan. 3.

Source: NHL Morning Skate – Jan. 11, 2023, nhl.com