It was an unfair fight.
Minus their top two goaltenders because of injuries, the Pittsburgh Penguins didn't stand a chance at GM Place on Saturday. The defending NHL champions were thumped 6-2 by the Vancouver Canucks before 18,810 patrons.
"It's proof that you can be the Stanley Cup champions, but if you don't get goaltending, you don't stand a chance," Canucks head coach Alain Vigneault said.
Henrik Sedin scored a goal and added two assists to extend his lead atop the league scoring race. He has 67 points, four more than San Jose's Joe Thornton.
Six different Canucks scored goals, including Alex Burrows, Jannik Hansen and Mikael Samuelsson. Hansen, Samuelsson, Daniel Sedin and Mason Raymond all had two-point nights, while Roberto Luongo made 22 saves.
The Penguins were without starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, which scuttled an expected showdown with Luongo, his Canadian Olympic teammate.
Fleury fractured a finger on his catching hand Thursday in Edmonton, and regular backup Brent Johnson is out with an upper-body injury.
That meant John Curry, an unheralded American with three career NHL appearances, was forced to start. Curry was recalled Monday from Pittsburgh's American Hockey League affiliate, and he promptly allowed some AHL goals before being mercy-pulled five minutes into the second period.
"I did feel bad for the kid," Luongo said of Curry. "I've been there, gone through that, and it isn't an easy thing. We all were aware of the situation. That said, we didn't take it for granted."
The Canucks blew the game open with three goals early in the stanza. Samuelsson, Hansen and Willie Mitchell all scored within the first four minutes of the frame, chasing Curry. (Mitchell would later leave the game after smashing his head against the boards on a hit-from-behind by Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin. Vigneault said it was a precaution).
Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma's only option Alexander Pechurski, the organization's fourth-string goalie who arrived in Vancouver early Saturday after an emergency call up from the Western Hockey League's Tri-City Americans.
"We needed a change, regardless of who was the backup," Bylsma said. "I think that's the definition of being thrown into the fire."
Pechurski, a fifth-round pick in the 2008 draft, played Friday against the Seattle Thunderbirds, and was wearing Fleury's backup equipment because his WHL gear doesn't conform to NHL regulations.
The 19-year-old Russian only came to North America last month, after beginning the season with Magnitogorsk of the Kontinental Hockey League.
He stopped the bleeding, making a few stops before being beaten by a Ryan Kesler tip-in on the power play. Curry allowed three goals on the first four shots of the second, and finished with just nine saves against 14 shots.
Pechurski was greeted by three short-range slapshots by Vancouver's Sami Salo, who owns one of the hardest shots in the game.
He was named the game's third star after making 12 saves on 13 shots. In the post-game dressing room, Pechurski's emotions were clear, even though he doesn't speak any English. He hugged a friend and patted his heart several times.
Burrows, the central figure in an NHL officiating scandal this week, scored an important goal. It came shorthanded with the teams tied 1-1 in the first period. He stripped defenceman Sergei Gonchar at the blue line, went in on a breakaway, and outclassed Curry.
Moments earlier, he had got away with a slash on Penguins defenceman Alex Goligoski. In the third period, Burrows was called for a soft holding penalty on Sidney Crosby.
The Penguins captain - soon to be a Canadian Olympian and fan favourite - was making just his second career appearances in Vancouver, and was greeted by a man in a wedding dress, holding a sign that pledged his signature a pre-nuptial agreement.
Crosby had encountered a woman in Calgary - and a man in Edmonton - who proposed from the stands during his team's "Great White North" road trip.
The Penguins finished 3-2 on the five-game trip through Toronto and the Canadian west, but Crosby's Vancouver visit was more sizzle than steak, as he generated very little offence and was held off the score-sheet.
The Canucks, meanwhile, also had an interesting week before snapping their three-game losing skid.
After a 3-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday, in which he was called for two controversial penalties in the third period, Burrows said that referee Stephane Auger was out to settle a grudge and vowed vengeance in a pre-game conversation.
The NHL reviewed the matter and found Auger was "beyond reproach," while slapping Burrows with a $2,500 U.S. fine.
Burrows said that Auger was out to get even for a Dec. 8 game against the Predators, when a Burrows dive tricked him into calling a match penalty on Nashville's Jerred Smithson.
"We're trying to put that behind us and focus on the future," Burrows said. "If we kept our losing streak going, I'm sure some of you guys would have blamed it on that [controversy]"
Malkin and former Canuck Matt Cooke scored for Pittsburgh. Malkin snapped an 11-game drought.