Penguins score 6 in 3rd in wild rally past Canucks

Kris Letang's one-timer from the right circle with 3:06 left in regulation broke a tie for good Wednesday to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a wild 8-6 win over the visiting Vancouver Canucks. Evgeni Malkin had two goals, including an empty-netter, and three assists. Jake Guentzel had two goals and two assists, Bryan Rust a goal and three assists, and Dominik Kahun and Zach Aston-Reese also scored for Pittsburgh. The Penguins erased a three-goal deficit in the third, a period that featured a total of eight goals, six by Pittsburgh.

Matt Murray gave up four goals on 14 shots before being pulled. Tristan Jarry made six saves on eight shots. J.T. Miller and Adam Gaudette each scored twice, Elias Pettersson and Jake Virtanen each had a goal and assist and Quinn Hughes had three assists for Vancouver.

Thatcher Demko, who played because expected starter Jacob Markstrom was ill, made 32 saves on 39 shots. Guentzel made it 1-0 at 2:29 of the first, after Malkin won a faceoff, for his team-leading 13th goal.

At 12:53 of the first, Rust lifted the puck past Demko's glove for a power-play goal and a 2-0 lead. Miller scored on a three-on-one at 16:42 of the first to make it 2-1, starting a string of four straight Canucks tallies.

Pettersson tied it 2-2 at 7:17 of the second with his 11th goal, on a three-on-two. At 18:20 of the second, Virtanen got behind Letang, moved to his backhand and beat Murray for a 3-2 Canucks lead.

Gaudette extended that to 4-2 and chased Murray with 58.2 seconds left in the second when he scored on a third rebound. At 1:01 of the second, Guentzel cut it to 4-3. He carried the puck behind the net before slicing a backhand in off a post.

On a power play at 2:31, the Canucks regained their two-goal lead, at 5-3. Miller's shot knuckled in off defenseman Jack Johnson for his 12th of the season. Gaudette beat Jarry glove side 35 seconds later, his sixth of the year, to make it 6-3.

During four-on-four play, Kahun knocked a bouncing puck past Demko, cutting it to 6-4 at 6:16, and on an ensuing power play, Malkin's slap shot made it 6-5 at 7:24. Aston-Reese tied it at 10:30 with his first goal in 12 games on a rebound from the slot.

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