PITTSBURGH – It took 12 days, five games and two periods, but the Vancouver Canucks finally collapsed today by surrendering three late, greasy goals in a 5-4 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Pittsburgh rookie Bryan Rust broke a 3-3 tie Pittsburgh with seven minutes remaining when his low, hopeful shot towards the net slid through Canuck Alex Edler, Penguin Eric Fehr and unsighted goalie Ryan Miller.
Sidney Crosby scored an empty-netter to make it 5-3 before Jannik Hansen scored for the Canucks on a deflection with 16.8 seconds left.
Outplayed at even-strength and down by two goals in the third period, the Penguins got two goals from Evgeni Malkin – well, two credited to him – in a span of 3:06 to tie it 3-3.