Boeser lifts Canucks past Penguins in overtime

PITTSBURGH -- Brock Boeser scored 34 seconds into overtime to give the Vancouver Canucks a 3-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday.

Boeser carried the puck into the Penguins zone before shooting from the left face-off circle past forward Jake Guentzel and over Casey DeSmith. He has seven points (six goals, one assist) in three career games against Pittsburgh.
"Every time you play those special players on the other team, maybe you get fired up a little bit more," Boeser said. "I don't know what it is. It's always special playing those guys."
WATCH: [All Canucks vs. Penguins highlights]
Carl Hagelin forced overtime with a goal that tied it 2-2 at 16:46 of the third period. Phil Kessel led a 2-on-1 before passing to Hagelin, who tapped a shot past Anders Nilsson for his first goal of the season.
Nilsson made 26 saves for Vancouver (4-2-0), which has won three straight games after losing two of its first three.
"It's nice to see the character we have in this group," Nilsson said. "So it's really fun to stand back there now and see how we work, especially against good teams like tonight, how hard we kind of wore them down and put pressure on them throughout the whole ice. For them, you see they're frustrated and it's tough for them to create scoring chances even with that skill they have."

DeSmith, who started a third straight game in place of Matt Murray (concussion), made 23 saves for Pittsburgh (2-1-2). Murray backed up DeSmith for a second consecutive game after missing a 4-2 win against the Vegas Golden Knights on Oct. 11.
"The guys played great tonight. They deserved better than that," DeSmith said. "[The Canucks] played solid. We played great. It was probably our best game of the season so far. So it definitely stings to come out with an overtime loss."
Guentzel scored on the Penguins' first shot to give them a 1-0 lead at 6:14 of the first period. He carried the puck on a 2-on-1 with Sidney Crosby against Chris Tanev, kept the puck and shot inside of Nilsson's blocker for his fourth goal of the season.
Ben Hutton tied it 1-1 with his first goal of the season at 8:55 of the first before Brandon Sutter put the Canucks ahead 2-1 at 18:56.

Markus Granlund helped set up Hutton's goal by collecting the puck behind the net and sending a pass off Tim Schaller (two assists) in front. The puck slid to Hutton at the inside of edge of left circle, where he took a snap shot with DeSmith down in his crease.
Schaller also played a part in Vancouver's second goal when he carried the puck behind the net with Brian Dumoulin and Jack Johnson each tracking him, leaving Sutter alone. Schaller wrapped a pass around the right post that Sutter one-timed past DeSmith.
"[Schaller] just had it in the corner and he started walking behind the net," Sutter said. "I was yelling for him to kind of cycle it to me. I kind of kept yelling and kept yelling. Once he circled the net, I figured I wasn't going to get it, and he still got it through somehow."

They said it

"Real good team effort tonight. What a road game that was against a hockey team that's obviously pretty deep. ... I think we're starting to figure out how we need to play as a group. I remember, about two weeks ago, talking about identity and talking to our group about it. We're learning how to win some hockey games." -- Canucks coach Travis Green
"I think we've got to look to shoot the puck more and create offense off of the rebound. Sometimes it's hard to make plays the way teams put back pressure on the puck and there's a lot of sticks and legs in the high slot. We're looking for that lateral play at the top of the circles a lot of times and it doesn't materialize. So we'd be much better served, especially in this early part of the season where we're trying to find our game, I think we've got to simplify everything we do." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Need to know

Vancouver played its first game without rookie forward Elias Pettersson, who is in the NHL concussion protocol after being injured on a hit by Florida Panthers defenseman Mike Matheson on Saturday. There is no timetable for his return. He leads the Canucks in goals (five) and points (eight). Adam Gaudette, who was recalled from Utica of the American Hockey League on Monday, took Pettersson's place at second-line center. ... Pittsburgh played its first game without defenseman Justin Schultz, who is expected to miss four months after having surgery to repair a fractured lower left leg Sunday. ... Crosby, who has four assists, has no goals in five games this season.

What's next

Canucks: At the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday (8 p.m. ET; TSN3, SNV, NHL.TV)
Penguins:At the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday (7 p.m. ET; TVAS, TSN4, ATTSN-PT, NHL.TV)