Kindel scores twice, Penguins hold off Canucks for 4th straight win

VANCOUVER -- Ben Kindel scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins held on for their fourth straight win, 3-2, against the Vancouver Canucks at Rogers Arena on Sunday.

The 18-year-old rookie forward, who ended a 19-game goal drought, was playing in front of close to 200 friends and family from his nearby hometown of Coquitlam, British Columbia.

“It’s obviously awesome,” Kindel said. “Lots of people that have been part of my life for a long time and have helped me make it here, so it's great. This night is just about them as much.”

Evgeni Malkin scored and Stuart Skinner made 30 saves for the Penguins (26-14-11), who swept their four-game road trip and have points in seven straight (5-0-2).

Jake DeBrusk and Teddy Blueger scored for the Canucks (17-30-5), who have lost two in a row since ending an 11-game losing streak, and are 1-11-2 in their past 14. Kevin Lankinen made 22 saves.

“The pushback was good,” said Blueger, who has two goals in three games after missing 43 with a lower-body injury. “We had a couple great chances in the last couple minutes but obviously we can't keep putting ourselves in that position every night and chasing it like that.”

Egor Chinakhov appeared to open the scoring for Pittsburgh at 7:47 of the first period when he finished Malkin's pass from along the goal line. However, Vancouver challenged the play for offside, and the call was reversed after a video review.

Conor Garland then seemed to put the Canucks ahead 1-0 with six seconds left in the first with a slap shot from the top of the right face-off circle past a screened Skinner, but officials waved it off because of goaltender interference against Blueger.

"I only saw a quick replay,” Blueger said. “I didn't feel like I touched him until after the puck was in the net. I guess it kind of could go either way."

Malkin did give the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 5:24 of the second period. Chinakhov made a nice move to get the puck out of the defensive zone and up to Tommy Novak, who started a 2-on-1 rush down the right side before sending a cross-ice pass to Malkin, who beat a sprawling Lankinen with a wrist shot over the blocker.

It was Malkin's third goal in as many games, but he appeared to get hurt celebrating and was hunched over on the bench briefly after the game ended.

“No update,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said.

Kindel made it 2-0 at 8:41 of the second period by redirecting Ryan Shea’s pass in from the top of the crease, and scored again at 17:22, one-timing a pass from Justin Brazeau through the legs of Lankinen from inside the top of the right face-off circle to push the lead to 3-0. They were Kindel's first goals since he scored eight through his first 28 games of the season.

“Obviously you want to try and help the team as much as you can, and scoring is one of those areas that you can help the team win,” Kindel said. “I don't know if it's as much about confidence but just keep playing my game and goals will come and go.”

It was a great ending to a road trip that also included Kindel's first NHL visit to Calgary, where he played three years of junior before the Penguins selected him No. 11 in the 2025 NHL Draft.

“Coming here, coming to Calgary, definitely full circle moments, two places that were a big part of my life,” he said. “These two places are very special for me, so it's been a great road trip.”

DeBrusk cut the deficit to 3-1 at 6:29 of the third period by banking a rebound in off Pittsburgh forward Connor Dewar from a sharp angle after Skinner robbed Elias Pettersson on a rebound.

Blueger brought Vancouver to within 3-2 at 14:00 when Filip Hronek’s one timer from the point pinballed off Liam Ohgren in front before bouncing in off Blueger atop the crease.

But Skinner made a diving blocker stop on Brock Boeser's shot from the left of the net with 52 seconds remaining to preserve the lead and his seventh win in his past eight starts.

“Made the first save and it kind of went right to him and I was maybe a foot too far away from him, so I just felt like I had to dive,” Skinner said. “I was able to get my body in front and make a big save, and then obviously after that just grinding the rest of the way trying to get the win.”

NOTES: Sidney Crosby, Malkin and Kris Letang skated in their 1,000th game together (regular season & playoffs). They became the fourth trio of teammates to reach that plateau joining Los Angeles’ Dustin Brown, Anze Kopitar & Drew Doughty (1,040 games), Chicago’s Duncan Keith, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane (1,004 games) and Detroit’s Alex Delvecchio, Gordie Howe and Marcel Pronovost (1,001 games). ... Letang had one shot on goal in 26:28 of ice time in his return to the lineup after missing the past two games with an upper-body injury. ... Novak has seven points (one goal, six assists) in his past six games. ... Malkin has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past seven games. ... Penguins defenseman Jack St. Ivany left the game early in the first period with an undisclosed injury.