The Calgary Flames saw a strong start unravel on Sunday night, falling 4–3 in overtime to the Anaheim Ducks at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

Calgary opened the game with pace and purpose, jumping out to a 2–0 lead in the first period and controlling long stretches of play, but Anaheim chipped away and eventually stole the extra point thanks to a hat-trick performance from rookie Beckett Sennecke.

Jonathan Huberdeau got the Flames on the board at the 6:17 mark of the opening frame, snapping an 10-game goal drought. After driving the net, Huberdeau stayed with a loose puck and poked it past Lukas Dostal to give Calgary an early advantage.

Just moments later, the Saddledome erupted again as Hunter Brzustewicz recorded his first career NHL goal. The defenceman fired a shot from the point that deflected off traffic in front and found its way into the net, doubling the Flames’ lead and capping a memorable milestone in his 17th NHL game.

Anaheim pushed back late in the first despite managing only three shots on goal through much of the period. A quick backdoor play found Sennecke, who buried his first of the night past Dustin Wolf to cut the lead in half.

Calgary dominated the shot clock early in the second period, outshooting Anaheim 25–7 at one point, but the Ducks found their footing. Crisp puck movement led to another Sennecke goal at the side of the net, tying the game at 2–2. The Ducks briefly thought they had taken the lead moments later, but a high-stick goal from Alex Killorn was immediately waved off and upheld after review.

The Flames regained the lead on the power play in the third period. Nazem Kadri worked the puck down low to Matvei Gridin who threaded a cross-seam pass to Matt Coronato, who elevated a quick shot over Dostal to make it 3–2.

Anaheim answered once again, tying the game on a 2-on-1 rush as Kris Kreider finished a one-timer to complete the hat trick and force overtime.

In the extra frame, Sennecke delivered the decisive blow, ripping a top-shelf shot over Wolf’s glove to seal the 4–3 Ducks victory. The rookie now leads all first-year players with 18 goals on the season.

Three Takeaways

1. Brzustewicz makes his opportunity count

After spending time as a healthy scratch, Hunter Brzustewicz made a strong case to stay in the lineup. His first NHL goal was the reward for a simple, confident play, and it marked a positive step for a player who has been trending in the right direction.

2. Flames get much-needed goals from key scorers

Jonathan Huberdeau and Matt Coronato both found the back of the net, something Calgary has desperately needed. While one game doesn’t solve ongoing offensive issues, goals from top contributors are an encouraging sign.

3. January continues to be difficult for Dustin Wolf

The loss marked Wolf’s sixth defeat in his last seven appearances, underscoring a challenging month for the young goaltender. Despite stretches of strong play, the results haven’t followed, adding to Calgary’s recent frustrations.

TORONTO (AP) — Brock Nelson scored twice in a 1:12 span in the first period and sealed his fifth career hat trick with an empty-netter in the Colorado Avalanche’s 4-1 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs on Sunday.

Jack Drury also scored to help NHL-leading Colorado improve to 35-6-9. MacKenzie Blackwood made 32 saves.

Colorado became the fourth team in NHL history with six or fewer regulation losses through 50 games, joining the 1979-80 Philadelphia Flyers (35-3-12), 1943-44 Montreal Canadiens (38-5-7) and 1975-76 Canadiens (36-6-8).

The last team with at least 77 points through 50 contests was the 2022-23 Boston Bruins (38-7-5), who went on to set the NHL record for wins in a season with 65.

Max Domi had a late power-play goal for Toronto, and Joseph Woll stopped 33 shots. The Maple Leafs are 24-19-9.

The Maple Leafs had a 4-3 overtime victory in Denver on Jan. 12, but have dropped six of seven (1-4-2), including an ugly 0-3-1 start to their current five-game homestand following an 8-0-2 run.

DUCKS 4, FLAMES 3, OT

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Rookie Beckett Sennecke scored at 2:54 of overtime for his first NHL hat trick as Anaheim rallied to beat Calgary.

Sennecke’s winner came on a 2-on-1 in which he kept the puck and snapped a shot past Dustin Wolf, just inside the post.

Chris Kreider also scored for Anaheim (28-21-3), which extended its winning streak to seven games. Mikael Granlund and Alex Killorn each had two assists. Lukas Dostal made 32 saves and improved to 19-12-2.

Sennecke’s three-goal effort gives him 18 for the season and 41 points overall, which places him second in rookie scoring to Montreal’s Ivan Demidov, who has 11 goals and 32 assists for 43 points.

The Ducks moved to within one point of the second-place Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division. Anaheim holds one game in hand. The Ducks and Oilers play Monday in Edmonton.

KRAKEN 4, DEVILS 2

SEATTLE (AP) — Matty Beniers and Berkly Catton scored 18 seconds apart in the third period, Joey Daccord made 27 saves and Seattle beat New Jersey.

Ryker Evans and Jordan Eberle also scored for Seattle, which has won three of their last 10 games. Beniers was playing in his 300th career NHL game.

Dougie Hamilton and Jack Hughes scored for the Devils. Jacob Markstrom stopped 15 shots in his sixth start in New Jersey’s last seven games. The Devils conclude their four-game Pacific Division road trip with a 3-1-0 record.

Hamilton opened the scoring 8:11 into the first period with a clean shot on the power play. Scoring his sixth goal of the season, Hamilton now has eight points in his last nine games.

Evans tied the game at 7:37 in the second period. The shot hit Johnathan Kovacevic’s stick and slipped through Markstrom’s pads, who appeared to be heavily screened.

Beniers and Catton scored back-to-back for Seattle, with their goals coming at 7:04 and 7:22 in the third period, respectively.

SENATORS 7, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 1

OTTAWA, Ontario (AP) — Stephen Halliday had two goals and an assist, Dylan Cozens also scored twice and Ottawa routed the road-weary Vegas.

Senators goalie Linus Ullmark returned to to the active roster from a personal leave, backing up Mads Sogaard. Ullmark was the 2022-23 Vezina Trophy winner.

Halliday scored his second and third career goals, and added the assist for a three-point game in his first season in the NHL.

Fabian Zetterlund, Jordan Spence and Nick Jensen also scored, and Brady Tkachuk had three assists. Sogaard stopped 19 shots.

Rasmus Andersson scored in third period for Vegas, making it 7-1. It was the defenseman’s first goal in two games with the Golden Knights following a trade with Calgary.

PENGUINS 3, CANUCKS 2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — Rookie Ben Kindel scored twice in the second period to lead Pittsburgh to a win over Vancouver and a sweep of Pittsburgh’s four-game western Canada trip.

Kindel, from nearby Coquitlam, British Columbia, had a large contingent of supporters on hand for his second multi-goal game. The 18-year-old had gone 20 games without a goal after scoring eight in his first 28 and has 10 goals and 12 assists in 48 games.

Evgeni Malkin also scored for the Penguins (26-14-11), and Stuart Skinner stopped 19 shots and won for the seventh time in eight games.

Jake DeBrusk and Teddy Blueger scored in the third period for the Canucks (17-30-5), who failed to complete their comeback try and dropped their second straight. Kevin Lankinen stopped 21 shots.

PANTHERS 5, BLACKHAWKS 1

CHICAGO (AP) — Defenseman Tobias Bjornfot scored his first two goals this season — giving him just three over seven NHL seasons and 139 career games — and Florida defeated Chicago for their third straight win.

Mackie Samoskevich and Carter Verhaeghe connected 2:04 apart early in the third period and Sam Reinhart added an empty-netter as the Panthers won for the sixth time in eight. Daniil Tarasov made 19 saves and the two-time defending Stanley Cup Panthers moved eight games over .500 for the first time this season.

Tyler Bertuzzi scored his team-leading 25th goal for the Blackhawks. Spencer Knight, who started his career with Florida, made 20 saves and fell to 0-2 against his former team.

The teams generated only a handful of chances through the first and second periods and neither pressured with a territorial edge.

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) — Rookie Beckett Sennecke scored at 2:54 of overtime for his first NHL hat trick as the Anaheim Ducks rallied to beat the Calgary Flames 4-3 Sunday night.

Sennecke's winner came on a 2-on-1 in which he kept the puck and snapped a shot past Dustin Wolf, just inside the post.

Chris Kreider also scored for Anaheim (28-21-3), which extended its winning streak to seven games. Mikael Granlund and Alex Killorn each had two assists. Lukas Dostal made 32 saves and improved to 19-12-2.

Sennecke’s three-goal effort gives him 18 for the season and 41 points overall, which places him second in rookie scoring to Montreal’s Ivan Demidov, who has 11 goals and 32 assists for 43 points.

The Ducks moved to within one point of the second-place Edmonton Oilers in the Pacific Division. Anaheim holds one game in hand. The Ducks and Oilers play Monday in Edmonton.

Jonathan Huberdeau, Matt Coronato and Hunter Brzustewicz, who had his first NHL goal, scored for Calgary (21-25-6), which is winless in its last four games (0-2-2). Wolf, who had 17 stops, falls to 15-21-2.

Huberdeau’s ninth goal snapped a 10-game goalless streak. Brzustewicz’s first NHL goal comes in his 18th game.

Calgary entered the game having scored just once in each of its last three games since the trading away of defenseman Rasmus Andersson. However, goals less than two minutes apart by Huberdeau and Brzustewicz gave the Flames a 2-0 lead eight minutes into the first period.

Tied 2-2 entering the third period, Coronato broke the deadlock at 4:50 before Kreider tied it at 13:08 and forced the extra session.

Anaheim’s second seven-game winning streak of the season gives the Ducks multiple seven-game runs in a season for the first time since 2014-15, when they also had two.

Ducks: At Edmonton on Monday in fourth game of a five-game trip.

Flames: At Minnesota on Thursday.

___

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

The Chicago Blackhawks had their point streak (3-games) snapped by the Florida Panthers on Sunday evening. After a special dedication ceremony for “Hockey Fights Cancer”, the product on the ice left a lot to be desired. 

The first 45 minutes of the hockey game were scoreless. That was until 15:33 of the second period when Tobias Bjornfort gave Florida a 1-0 lead.

With 30 seconds remaining in the middle frame, Tyler Bertuzzi tied it thanks to a great play made by Wyatt Kaiser and Ilya Mikheyev to find him at the net-mouth. 

In the third period, the Panthers took over. Mackie Samoskevich, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, and Tobias Bjornfort's second goal of the game made it four unanswered for Florida. The 5-1 mark stood as the final score. 

This loss for Chicago snapped a three-game point streak. They weren't outplayed until the third period, but that ultimately cost them the game. 

Part of their struggles as a team overall, including in some of their wins, is scoring goals. Their offense has been lackluster for a couple of weeks now. Connor Bedard isn't producing at the same rate that he was before his injury, and the rest of the team isn't picking it up. 

The power play, which had a good first half of the season, has been struggling in recent games. After going 0-3 on Sunday, they are now 0-17 over their last seven games, which has plummeted the entire unit down to 16th in the league with 20.5 percent. 

With the loss, the Blackhawks will stay at 50 points. They are wildly improved compared to where they were with 30 games to go last year, but they have a long way to go before the playoffs are a realistic possibility. 

Watch Every Chicago Goal

a beauty from Bertuzzi🤩 pic.twitter.com/Yni2vu7H5W

— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) January 26, 2026

What’s Next For The Blackhawks?

The Blackhawks are back in action on Tuesday night when they pay a visit to the Minnesota Wild. It's another game against one of the elite teams in the NHL, except this one is a divisional matchup. 

Visit The Hockey News Chicago Blackhawks team site to stay updated on the latest news, game-day coverage, player features, and more.

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The Vancouver Canucks battled to the end but fell 3-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Vancouver's goal scorers on Sunday were Jake DeBrusk and Teddy Blueger. As for Kevin Lankinen, he stopped 22 of the 25 shots he faced. 

Sunday was another example of the Canucks going down by multiple goals and needing a big push in the third to try and tie the game. All three goals scored by the Penguins happened in the second period, which puts Vancouver's total to 67 goals against in the middle frame. Post-game, Head Coach Adam Foote spoke about the second period and why it has been an issue all year. 

"It's we can't, we're fine and, you know, it seems like we don't get the first goal, or they get the first goal or the second, we kind of get off mentally," said Foote. "We get off our game a little bit, and we've discussed it. And once they get back on, you see what they can do. They just went out as a completely different team in the third. Controlled that game in the third. So we just got to not get frustrated at 0-0, or one, nothing. For a long time, we had a mistake. Just hang in there and just, you know, play."

The biggest storyline from this game came right before the final whistle as Brock Boeser took an elbow to the head from Bryan Rust. Boeser did skate off under his own power but was talking with the trainer on the way to the bench. While Foote did not give an update post-game, he did comment on the play. 

"I don't have an update yet, but I just looked at the hit," said Foote. "It wasn't pretty. There was a headshot. A shoulder in his head. I'm sure the league will look at it. Even though he may have been desperate to get Bess down because it was a scrum at the net, I still think it was something that you had to be in control of your body. I thought it was a little bit vicious hit to the head.

No Update On Canucks' Brock Boeser After 'Vicious Hit To The Head' A hit to the head on Canucks forward Brock Boeser overshadowed Vancouver's 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

As for a positive from the game, the Canucks were able to hold Sidney Crosby pointless and without a shot in this game. Foote and his staff mainly used Blueger and Elias Pettersson in the role to keep the future Hall of Famer in check. Post-game, Blueger spoke to the media about the matchup and how difficult it is to defend against Crosby.

"He's obviously one of the hardest matchups in the league," said Blueger. "So, you know,  it's a very, very tough matchup. At the same time, you appreciate it. He's one of the all-time greats. And, yeah, going against him is, you know, a privilege in a way, too. So it's, it's hard work. But yeah, I think, Petey went against them a lot too, and did a good job against them."

Ultimately, Sunday replicated so many other nights this season. Vancouver fell into an early hole, showed off their resiliency, yet still came up short in the end. Overall, the positive remains that the game featured entertaining moments while also helping the tank as the Canucks picked up zero points and extended their lead at the bottom of the standings. 

Stats and Facts:

- Jake DeBrusk breaks his eight-game scoring drought 

- Teddy Blueger scores for the second-straight game

- Conor Garland records his first point of 2026

- Elias Pettersson's 290th career assist ties him with Dennis Kearns for the ninth most in franchise history

Scoring Summary:

1st Period:

No Scoring

2nd Period:

5:24-PIT: Evgeni Malkin (13) from Tommy Novak and Egor Chinakhov
8:41- PIT: Ben Kindel (9) from Ryan Shea and Anthony Mantha
17:22- PIT: Ben Kindel (10) from Justin Brazeau and Brett Kulak

3rd Period:

6:29- VAN: Jake DeBrusk (13) from Elias Pettersson and Evander Kane
14:00- VAN: Teddy Blueger (3) from Liam Öhgren and Filip Hronek

Up Next:

The Canucks continue their homestand on Tuesday when they face the San Jose Sharks. While Kiefer Sherwood is injured, there is a chance he will make his Sharks debut on Tuesday. Game time is scheduled for 7:00 pm PT.

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

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Don’t look now, but the Florida Panthers are building up some steam.

Playing in their third road game in four nights, the Panthers took down the Chicago Blackhawks 5-1 on Sunday night at United Center, wrapping up a perfect 3-0-0 road trip.

For the second time on this road trip, goals were quite hard to come by for both the Panthers and their opponent.

The first tally of the night came late in the second period, and once again, it was the Cats who went ahead first.

Directly off an offensive zone faceoff win by Cole Schwindt, Toby Bjornfot came down from the blue line and picked up the puck, carrying it behind the net and attempting a wraparound shot on Spencer Knight that squeaked through the goaltender’s legs.

Unfortunately for the Cats, they couldn’t hold the lead and take it into the third period.

A failed zone clear by Florida led to Tyler Bertuzzi banging home an Ilya Mikheyev rebound with just 29.3 on the clock.

It took Florida less than five minutes of third period time to re-take the lead.

Mackie Samoskevich picked up the puck in the right circle and leaned into a wrist shot that was stopped by Knight, just not enough to keep it from crossing the goal line.

They weren’t done there.

Just 2:04 later, Evan Rodrigues drew a gaggle of Blackhawks toward him in the left circle before feeding Carter Verhaeghe in the slot, and Swaggy’s wrister beat Knight over the glove to double the Cats lead with 12:36 to go.

An empty-net tally by Sam Reinhart, his 26th goal and 50th point of the season, cemented the victory for Florida, but Bjornfot added a second of the game off a great feed from Verhaeghe with 22.2 to go just for good measure.

Goaltender Daniil Tarasov was solid when called upon Sunday, finishing with 20 saves to earn his second win on the road trip. He was also in net for Thursday’s victory in Winnipeg.

On to the Mammoth.

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Photo caption: Jan 25, 2026; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Florida Panthers defenseman Tobias Bjornfot (22) celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Chicago Blackhawks during the second period at United Center. (Kamil Krzaczynski-Imagn Images)

A 3–2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins today was not the biggest concern for the Vancouver Canucks. At the end of today’s game, Brock Boeser found himself on the receiving end of a bad head-shot by Penguins forward Bryan Rust, getting up slowly after. This occurred within the final bit of the third period, during Vancouver’s push for a game-tying goal deep in Pittsburgh’s zone. 

“I think it’s a pretty dirty play, to be honest with you,” Canucks forward Jake DeBrusk said post-game of what had happened to Boeser. 

“Seemed pretty dirty to me watching it on the replay,” Teddy Blueger, who spent five seasons as a member of the Penguins alongside Rust, said. “I don’t think Rusty is a dirty player, but I think it was pretty clear head contact.” 

Canucks Head Coach Adam Foote met with the media post-game, explaining that he has yet to receive an update on Boeser's condition. 

"I don't have an update yet, but I just looked at the hit. It wasn't pretty. It was a headshot [...] I'm sure the league will look at it, because it was. Even though he may have been desperate to get Boes down because it was a scrum at the net, I still think it was something that you had to be in control of your body. I thought it was a little bit of a vicious hit to the head." 

The Canucks resume their eight-game home stand with a match against the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night at 7:00 pm PT. They remain at home for two more games after this, against the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday and the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday, before heading on the road for two games before the Olympic break. 

Make sure you bookmark THN's Vancouver Canucks site and add us to your favourites on Google News for the latest news, exclusive interviews, breakdowns, and so much more. Also, don't forget to leave a comment at the bottom of the page and engage with other passionate fans through our forum. This article originally appeared on The Hockey News.

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Goaltender Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox have continued skating on their own, but head coach Mike Sullivan didn’t think that their return to practicing with the rest of the Rangers at full capacity would be “imminent.”

Sullivan told The Post after the Blueshirts practiced in Tarrytown on Sunday that their pair of stars had skated “probably upwards of” four or five times.

Shesterkin has been on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and hasn’t played since Jan. 5, while Fox landed on long-term injured reserve with an upper-body injury and hasn’t played since that same overtime loss to the Mammoth.

Shesterkin is eligible to return, but Fox can’t get activated until the Jan. 31 game against the Penguins.

“They’ve been on the ice a handful of times at this point,” Sullivan said as the Rangers prepared to face the Bruins on Monday at the Garden. “They skated [Sunday] morning, so they’re making progress.”

A full return to practice would mark the final step needed for the Rangers to get their $92 million goaltender and their former Norris Trophy winner back into the lineup.

Without Shesterkin, backup Jonathan Quick has gone 0-5-0 with a .795 save percentage and 23 goals allowed across five starts, while Spencer Martin, who was recalled from AHL Hartford, has gone 1-2-0 with an .881 save percentage in three starts — while also taking over twice when Quick was pulled.

And Fox’s absence — his second extended one of the season — forced the Blueshirts to bump Braden Schneider to the top defensive pairing alongside Vladislav Gavrikov and to shift Gavrikov into Fox’s spot on the top power-play unit.

• CHECK OUT THE LATEST NHL STANDINGS AND RANGERS STATS

The Blueshirts struggled mightily with the man advantage when Fox missed 14 games due to a shoulder injury earlier in the year, but they’ve gone 5-for-19 in the eight games since he sustained the latest injury.

Sam Carrick’s job isn’t to score. But in the immediate aftermath of the loss to the Sabres on Jan. 8, Carrick rued his missed chances on offense and was critical of himself for not doing enough to contribute production.

During the Rangers loss to the Sharks on Friday, the fourth-line center collected his third goal of the season and his second across their last six games, an early sign of his starting to turn those opportunities into occasional goals.

“He does a lot of the thankless jobs that help teams win,” Sullivan said. “They don’t necessarily show up on the scoresheet all the time, but he does a lot of the little things, the subtleties of the game that add up to winning. He’s physical. He sticks up for our guys. He takes faceoffs. He’s part of our penalty kill. He’s a momentum guy. He’s a great teammate.”

“And so a player like [him] is able to chip in a few goals, it certainly is a boost of confidence for him, but everybody’s thrilled for him because of all the thankless jobs he does on a daily basis.”

Pregame

Kris Letang gets back into the lineup for the Penguins.

The hosting Vancouver Canucks greet the Pens with this lineup.

First period

The Penguins strike first only to see it get called back on a Vancouver challenge. Egor Chinakhov sneaks a puck in from right in front but he was offside and a step ahead of the play at the blueline so it made for an easy reversal.

Jack St. Ivany leaves the bench in the middle of the period, dropping Pittsburgh down to five defenders.

It becomes the Canucks turn to have a disallowed goal. Conor Garland blasts a slapshot from outside that gets by Stuart Skinner, though the ref immediately washes it out because Teddy Blueger backed all the way into the blue paint of the crease and contacted Skinner with his backside.

Matching no goals makes it a 0-0 score after one. Vancouver is up 9-8 on shots, Skinner made a few nice saves along the way.

Second period

Vancouver gets the first power play of the game when Anthony Mantha smacks a guy in the face. The Pens PK takes care of business, no small thanks to a bunch of saves from Skinner.

The Pittsburgh second line comes through for a goal again, this time it counts. Chinakhov picks the puck off this time, Novak again with the setup to a streaking Evgeni Malkin to lift it home. 1-0 Pens.

Next up, the Ben Kindel show. The 18-year old gets his first goal in 19 games by redirecting a puck from in tight, to the delight of 180 family and friends in attendance.

Kindel turns that goal-drought into a goal-streak with another goal to extend the lead to 3-0. Should get a bonus point for absolutely shattering the camera within the net.

Big time period for the visitors to blow the game open with three goals.

Third period

It takes almost six minutes for Vancouver to get their first shots of the third period, they make them count. Jake DeBrusk follows up a shot and is able to put the puck into the net. 3-1

Say what you will about the Canucks, they didn’t go away quietly. Filip Hronek takes a big slapshot that has enough energy on it to bounce around a few times and go off Teddy Blueger and into the net. 3-2 game with just 6:00 to go.

Goalie Kevin Lankinen is pulled with about 2 minutes left, it’s crunch time for the 6v5 magic that Vancouver looks for. They get a great look that Skinner stymies with a diving save that brings back memories of Marc-Andre Fleury in Detroit.

The Canucks keep throwing everything they can at the net between bodies, sticks, pucks, yet they can’t crack Skinner again before the final buzzer goes off to save the Pens.

Some thoughts

• Novak’s play in the neutral zone has been great lately. Whether it’s skating the puck and gaining the zone or blocking breakout attempts he’s been everywhere. It’s been paying off in big ways like the setup for the Malkin goal, it’s also all over the place to be on the puck constantly.
• Two goals for Kindel! He’s still been playing well all over the ice without the puck despite the lack of goals lately, popping in two for the homecoming of the Vancouver native in his first game there was a special moment for him to create.
• Between the team’s rookie party and seeing his family in a luxury box, how expensive was the weekend for Kindel? The old joke about playing for free might have some level of truth to it, he’d probably take it for the two goals, including the GWG.
• The Bob Grove stat of the day: today was game 1,000 (including playoffs) of the Big 3 all in the lineup together.
• St. Ivany only took three shifts (playing 2:54) before leaving with what was announced as an upper body injury. That meant the Pens basically went the distance with only five defenders for the balance of the game tonight.
• They still found a way to ease Letang back into the lineup, though you wouldn’t tell it from his overall ice time (16:50 through two periods, overall for the game). Letang wasn’t used on the PK. He hasn’t been a huge PK guy this season (averaging 1:27 per game), but that still ranked fourth among Pittsburgh defenders for a somewhat regular shift or turn in the rotation.
• Another quality start in the books for Skinner, as has become his norm as of late. There were times he didn’t have a lot of action, though at the start of the game and the Canuck power play early in the second he had to be good, as was. Moneypuck had Vancouver with over 2 expected goals at the halfway point of the game. Thanks to Skinner it was 0 actual at that point. Could it have been another OT/SO loss and three-goal third period lead blown for the Pens? It was trending that way until Skinner’s late game heroics.
• Maybe when the Penguins come back East they will find some power plays back at home. Pittsburgh only had six total power plays over the four-game western swing, including zip, zero tonight.
• Can’t complain with the results though, four games on the trip end up as four wins. Big time results there.

The Penguins gotta be looking around seeing if the NHL has any more teams for them to play out in the northwest. Sadly, they do not, the team will return home and look to bottle up the momentum for their next game on Thursday against Buffalo.