Arshdeep Bains Scores First NHL Goal in Second Period Surge as Canucks Down Penguins 4-3

In their return to home ice, the Vancouver Canucks got it done by committee to win in their Hockey Night in Canada match up against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Canucks took over in the second period, with each line scoring a five-on-five goal in the middle frame.

Head Coach Rick Tocchet was pleased to see all his lines generating offence and converting on looks and plays they’ve been working on in practice.

“I think there's some good plays out there, there's some good possession time. We're converting on some nice plays, the two-on-one was a big play for us. The conversion, the plays, some of the concepts we've talked about training camp, and especially last week, you can see guys trying to apply it out there, so that's nice to see,” Tocchet said.

Elias Petterson kicked off the scoring for the Canucks, saying they weren’t happy with their first period, but they continued to generate offence and knew their chances would eventually fall.

"We were trying to create from anywhere on the ice, and we had some looks to create or to score on five-on-five, but to get some goals off the rush. On Bainsy’s goal, Spronger made a great play skating from his own zone, the puck hit the pad and the net opened up for Bainsy,” Pettersson said.

Kevin Lankinen started for the fourth game in a row, stopping 21 of 24 shots he faced for his fourth win of the young season.

The Canucks celebrated Tyler Myers’ 1000th game; the blue liner received his silver stick with his wife, children, and teammates by his side – his children were gifted mini silver sticks to commemorate their dad’s achievement.

His teammates pre-recorded messages for him that played in the first period, Pettersson speaking highly of Myers’ character.

“Mysey’s an unbelievable teammate, he always has your back, and I’m so happy for him and his family,” Petterson said.

Goals

Back in Vancouver, Anthony Beauvillier drew first blood against his former team, the Penguins leading the Canucks 1-0 going into the first intermission.

In the second, Beauvillier assisted on the Penguins’ second goal, scored by right winger Bryan Rust.

The Canucks would then score three goals in just over a minute, Elias Pettersson beginning the scoring spree. Pettersson scored his first goal of the season, launching a laser from the left faceoff circle into the top corner off a pass from Conor Garland below the goal line.

“I just tried to get it high on the far side, and luckily it went post then in,” Pettersson said.

Keifer Sherwood scored from the left circle on a two-on-one with Teddy Blueger.

On a breakaway, J.T. Miller took a shot from the right circle and grabbed the rebound and jammed it into the back of the net.

Arshdeep Bains scored his first NHL goal, which was his first NHL point. Coming off the rush, Daniel Sprong took a shot on net, Bains collecting the rebound net front and flipped the puck past Joel Blomqvist.

Sprong made a point of retrieving Bains’ first NHL goal puck and brought it to him on the bench.

“Two seconds after the puck went in, he came up to me and I think it’s just those little things that mean a lot,” Bains said.

Tocchet was happy to see the fans cheering for the Surrey product after he scored.

“It's great. I was talking to Footey after the game, you remember your first goal in the NHL, it's pretty special,” Tocchet said.

With four unanswered goals in the second period, the Canucks held a 4-2 lead going into the second intermission.

In the third, Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin scored to bring the Canucks within one, but Vancouver closed out the game 4-3.

Up Next

The Canucks will look to extend their winning streak to five games when they face the Carolina Hurricanes at Rogers Arena on Monday, October 28th at 7 p.m. PT.