Chris Tanev, who turned 30 yesterday, was the OT hero against the Golden Knights scoring 90 seconds into the extra session. It was his second goal of the season and his first since the Canucks October 9th home opener against Los Angeles. Elias Pettersson scored twice while Antoine Roussel and Tanner Pearson had the others. Jake Virtanen had a pair of first period assists and now has 3+7=10 in the last 11 games.
The Canucks lost winger Josh Leivo to a leg injury midway through the second period against Vegas. He was placed on injured reserve on Friday with a broken knee cap and is expected to miss two to three months. Loui Eriksson will draw into the line-up and take Leivo’s spot on right wing with Bo Horvat and Tanner Pearson. Eriksson has not played since December 3rd against Ottawa and has 1+0=1 in 17 games this season. Brandon Sutter will miss a second straight game with an upper body injury and Green said today it’s unlikely he’ll return before the holiday break.
Jacob Markstrom made 39 saves for the win in his sixth straight start and will get the nod again tonight. Thatcher Demko (concussion) was on the ice prior to the team’s morning skate working with goalie coach Ian Clark. While Demko stayed out for part of the team session, too, Michael DiPietro will back-up again tonight.
Brock Boeser has six goals in five career games against Pittsburgh including the first hattrick of his NHL career on November 4, 2017.
On Thursday, Oscar Fantenberg led all Canucks with 18:59 of even-strength ice time and, overall, logged a season-high 20:33 on the night. In his nine games this season, Fantenberg has been on the ice for just one even-strength goal against and has made a case to stay in the line-up whenever Alex Edler returns from his upper body injury. Edler took part in a second straight morning skate, but will miss a 10th consecutive game tonight.
The Penguins are playing back to back after a 5-2 win in Edmonton last night. Former Canuck Jared McCann scored his 10th goal of the season and registered a team-high five shots on net with Kris Letang, Chad Ruhwedel, Joseph Blandini and Brandon Tanev providing the other markers. North Delta native Tristan Jarry made 26 saves in goal in his fifth straight start.
Pittsburgh has now won four in a row and seven of its last eight. The Pens did not have a morning skate in Vancouver so any line-up news will not be revealed until closer to game time. It’s quite likely Matt Murray will get the start in net.
Jake Guentzel leads the Pens with 17 goals and 36 points. Evgeni Malkin is having another productive season with 30 points in the 22 games he’s appeared in. Sidney Crosby is skating again after sports hernia surgery, but he remains out of the line-up indefinitely after suiting up for just 17 of Pittsburgh’s 35 games this season. The Penguins are also without Nick Bjugstad, Patric Hornqvist, Brian Dumoulin and Justin Schultz.
Former Canucks assistant Mike Sullivan will work his 500th NHL game as a head coach tonight. He worked 164 behind the bench in Boston earlier in his career and tonight will be his 336th as head coach of the Penguins (195-102-38).
When these teams met on November 27th, the Pens erased a 6-3 deficit with less than 15 minutes remaining and roared back to defeat the Canucks 8-6 at PPG Paints Arena. Evgeni Malkin led the Pittsburgh attack with 2+3=5. Jake Guenztel had 2+2=4 while Bryan Rust recorded 1+3=4. Adam Gaudette and JT Miller each scored twice for the Canucks and Quinn Hughes had three assists.
POSSIBLE CANUCKS LINE-UP
Miller-Pettersson-Boeser
Pearson-Horvat-Eriksson
Roussel-Gaudette-Virtanen
Schaller-Beagle-Motte
Hughes-Tanev
Fantenberg-Myers
Benn-Stecher
Markstrom
POSSIBLE PENGUINS LINE-UP
Guentzel-Malkin-Rust
Aston-Reese-McCann-Kahun
Simon-Blueger-Tanev
Galchenyuk-Blandisi-Lafferty
Johnson-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Riikola-Ruhwedel
Murray