VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Kris Letang and Evgeni Malkin scored in the shootout and the Pittsburgh Penguinis overcame blowing a two-goal lead to open the season with a 4-3 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday night.
Letang, who also had two assists, beat Roberto Luongo with a nasty backhand deke and, after Marc-Andre Fleury stopped Mikael Samuelsson and Alex Burrows, Malkin sealed it with a strong move to the forehand that stranded Luongo.
Matt Cooke scored once on a power play and once short-handed, and James Neal also scored on the power play for Pittsburgh. Fleury finished with 33 saves through overtime as the Penguins played without captain Sidney Crosby, who continues his long recovery from concussion.
Maxim Lapierre, Keith Ballard and Daniel Sedin scored for the Canucks, and Luongo had 25 saves.
Penguins 4, Canucks 3
Pittsburgh2100-4
Fact Box
On the ice
Tonight: Idle
Next: Pittsburgh at Calgary, Saturday, 10 p.m.
TV: ROOT
Vancouver1110-3
Pittsburgh won shootout 2-0
First Period-1, Pittsburgh, Neal 1 (Malkin, Letang), 5:04 (pp). 2, Pittsburgh, Cooke 1 (Dupuis), 12:30 (pp). 3, Vancouver, Lapierre 1, 16:20. Penalties-Bieksa, Van (hooking), 4:48; Hansen, Van (elbowing), 10:38.
Second Period-4, Pittsburgh, Cooke 2 (Staal, Letang), 3:09 (sh). 5, Vancouver, Ballard 1 (H.Sedin, D.Sedin), 17:47. Penalties-Malkin, Pit (elbowing), 1:34; Letang, Pit (hooking), 11:59; Burrows, Van (holding), 12:37.
Third Period-6, Vancouver, D.Sedin 1 (H.Sedin, Salo), 7:51. Penalties-Michalek, Pit (holding), 10:43.
Overtime-None. Penalties-None.
Shootout-Pittsburgh 2 (Letang G, Malkin G), Vancouver 0 (M.Samuelsson NG, Burrows NG).
Shots on Goal-Pittsburgh 10-11-6-1-28. Vancouver 9-10-15-2-36.
Power-play opportunities-Pittsburgh 2 of 3; Vancouver 0 of 3.
Goalies-Pittsburgh, Fleury 1-0-0 (36 shots-33 saves). Vancouver, Luongo 0-0-1 (28-25).
A-18,860 (18,810). T-2:37.
Referees-Kyle Rehman, Brad Watson. Linesmen-Lonnie Cameron, Vaughan Rody.
