Penguins’ inexperienced goalie gets blasted

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The Vancouver Canucks wasted little time taking advantage of the Pittsburgh Penguins’ inexperienced goaltending.

Henrik Sedin scored the tying goal, then added two assists in Vancouver’s four-goal burst in a five-minute stretch in the Canucks’ 6-2 victory Saturday night.

The outburst started with Alex Burrows’ short-handed breakaway with 1:23 left in the first period. Mikael Samuelsson, Jannik Hansen and Willie Mitchell then scored in the first four minutes of the second period to chase goalie John Curry, pressed into service by an injury to Marc-Andre Fleury.

“It’s tough as a team to play when shots are going in like that,” said Daniel Sedin, who had two assists, including his 500th NHL point. “We knew he was kind of shaky and we wanted to take advantage of that.”

Ryan Kesler also scored, and Roberto Luongo made 22 saves as the Canucks snapped a three-game losing skid by capitalizing on Fleury’s absence after he broke the ring finger on his left hand during a 3-2 win in Edmonton on Thursday.

“It’s proof that you can be the Stanley Cup champions but if you get no goaltending, you stand no chance of winning,” Canucks coach Alain Vigneault said. “Their first goaltender obviously wasn’t good enough.”

Curry, in goal because regular backup Brent Johnson was already out with a lower-body injury, was beaten five times on 14 shots. He was replaced 4:29 into the second period by Alexander Pechurski, a 19-year-old Russian called up from junior hockey on an emergency basis and signed to an amateur tryout contract.

Pechurski stopped 12 of 13 while wearing Fleury’s pads, and was named third star. Not bad for a fifth-round draft pick who left Russia in late December and played the night before for Tri-City in the Western Hockey League.

“That’s the definition of thrown into the fire,” coach Dan Bylsma said. “From getting the call last night, to wearing Flower’s pads, it’s a lot to ask of a young kid. But he played fantastic, stood in there and was confident.”

By then, however, it was too late. Evgeni Malkin ended his 11-game goal drought to open the scoring 7:32 in. But it was all Vancouver after that as the Canucks tormented Curry in his fourth NHL appearance — and first this season.

“I’ve got to use it as a learning experience,” Curry said.

Former Canuck Matt Cooke also scored for the Penguins.