In a battle of the Eastern Conference versus the Western Conference on Thursday, the west dominated and the Vancouver Canucks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins by a score of 3-0.
Thomas Greiss played well in his home debut at Consol Energy Center, making 28 saves, but it wasn’t enough to stop the Canucks.
“I never felt quite comfortable in the game” said Greiss, whose record will fall to 3-2-1 on the season.
At the other end of the ice, Eddie Lack was sparkling in goal for the Canucks, turning aside all 21 shots for his first shutout in eight games this season. It was his start since November 20.
Right-winger Brad Richardson opened the scoring in the first period for the Vancouver. The Canucks were able to created a turnover on the forecheck and Richardson was left wide open in front of Greiss to make it 1-0.
Then during the second period, the Canucks added two more goals. Shawn Matthias scored on a wrist shot at 11:34 of the period. Richardson then capped off the scoring with his second tally, a shorthanded goal, at 13:54.
Richardson finished the game with two goals and three points and was named the game’s first star.
“I thought tonight our decisions at the line were pretty good for the most part,” said coach Mike Johnston. “I just didn’t think we had the speed in the game. We lost some loose puck battles and the game was won basically in the second period.”
The Penguins, despite being badly outshot, did have good scoring chances, but Lack was up to the task every time. In the third period, Sidney Crosby got loose for a breakaway and tried to go to the backhand, but it was stopped by Lack as well.
The Penguins offense was without Patric Hornqvist for the second half of the game. He left in the second period after being hit by Canucks defenseman Ryan Stanton. No update on his status was available after the game.
The blame on the defensive side of the puck can easily be passed around, as 12 different Penguins finished with minus ratings.
“I just thought we were kind of flat,” said defenseman Rob Scuderi. “You have to make things happen for yourself and we didn’t have that tonight,”
Penguins forward Craig Adams equaled a franchise record by skating in his 313th consecutive game. He is now tied with Ron Schock for the team lead.
Photo credit: NHL
