DeSmith, Penguins shut out Canucks, finish Canada trip 4-0-0

VANCOUVER -- Casey DeSmith made 29 saves, and the Pittsburgh Penguins swept a four-game Canada road trip with a 5-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Saturday.

Evgeni Malkin scored two goals 59 seconds apart and had an assist, Sidney Crosby scored two goals to give him five in three games, and Phil Kessel also scored for the Penguins (6-1-2), who outscored opponents 23-6 in the four games.
"We are playing our game and we are feeling it," Malkin said. "Every shift, every line is just like, we try to dominate."
WATCH: [All Penguins vs. Canucks highlights]
Malkin dominated on consecutive shifts. He scored at 14:15 of the third period on a backdoor tap-in to make it 3-0, and scored his second goal with a wrist shot at 15:14 for a 4-0 lead.

Malkin has 15 points (four goals, 11 assists) in a seven-game point streak, and credited chemistry with Kessel, who has six points (three goals, three assists) on a three-game point streak.
"When Phil plays good, I am playing good. When he is feeling it, I feel it too. When he is lazy, I am like 'I can't do it myself,' " Malkin said. "We try to play together right now and you see he's flying."
Jacob Markstrom made 30 saves for the Canucks (6-6-0), who have lost three of four. Vancouver was missing injured top-pair defensemen Alexander Edler (lower body) and Chris Tanev (hip) against a potent Penguins attack that leads the NHL with 4.44 goals per game.
"Man, those are good lines and it's a hard matchup against younger defensemen to play against them," Canucks coach Travis Green said.
Kessel gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead at 5:50 of the second period on a rebound at the side of the net.
Crosby scored a pretty goal at 16:34 to make it 2-0. He split the defense to take a cross-ice pass from Dominik Simon and pulled it back the other way, stranding Markstrom and giving himself an empty net to score on a backhand.

Crosby extended the lead to 5-0 at 17:43. He has eight points (five goals, three assists) in the past four games.
"Their goals speak for themselves," Canucks forward Bo Horvat said. "The way they move the puck and find each other out there, everyone's constantly moving in the O-zone. It's tough to defend."
DeSmith got the start despite Matt Murray having a .951 save percentage the first three games of the trip, and responded with his first shutout of the season and the second of his NHL career.
DeSmith had to be good when Vancouver pushed early but wasn't tested a lot until robbing Loui Eriksson in the slot with 25 seconds left in the third period.
"Really happy with how I played but more importantly the team played the way we are supposed to," DeSmith said. "We were really locked down tonight and didn't give them much of anything, even on the [penalty] kill. It was a textbook road win."
DeSmith improved to 2-0-2 this season but said he wanted another shot at the Canucks after a 3-2 overtime loss to them in his last start Oct. 16.
"I don't like losing and the way we lost, I felt the overtime goal I could have had, so that has been on my mind since," he said. "It just so happened my next game was against these guys, and that worked out."

They said it

"We're coming together, we're making strides, trying to get better every day. That was one of the things we talked about before we went out on this trip. It was a great trip for us in a lot of ways. Obviously we had success on the ice and that is important and we are thrilled about that, but I think we are coming together as a team as well and that is really important for us moving forward."-- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan on the 4-0-0 trip, the first sweep of western Canada since Dec. 5-8, 2007
"Emotionally, you just kind of get down on yourself. But at the same time though, you can't just leave your goalie out to dry, you've got to play the full 60 minutes." -- Canucks defenseman Troy Stecher

Need to know

Kessel played his 255th consecutive game with the Penguins, surpassing Malkin for the fifth-longest streak in Penguins history. It was Kessel's 701st consecutive game, dating to his time with the Toronto Maple Leafs, the third-longest active streak in the NHL. … Canucks forwards Elias Pettersson and Brock Boeser returned from injury. Pettersson, who missed six games with a concussion, played 19:01, and Boeser, who missed two with a groin injury, had three shots in 19:14. … Canucks forward Darren Archibald was sent to Utica of the American Hockey League.

What's next

Penguins:Host the New York Islanders on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; SN1, ATTSN-PT, MSG, NHL.TV)
Canucks: Host the Minnesota Wild on Monday (10 p.m. ET; SN, FS-N+, NHL.TV)