VANCOUVER — Ryan Miller made 31 saves for his sixth shutout of the season and the 35th of his career Saturday as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-0.
Alexandre Burrows, with a goal and an assist, Bo Horvat, Shawn Matthias, Zack Kassian and Daniel Sedin scored for Vancouver (29-19-3). Radim Vrbata picked up two assists.
Thomas Greiss stopped 22 shots for Pittsburgh (30-15-8).
Down 2-0 after the first, the Penguins thought they had gotten back in the game early in the second, but Derrick Pouliot’s shot that hit the post and then Miller was disallowed after it was ruled the net was off before the puck crossed the line.
The Canucks, who also had a goal of their own disallowed thanks to a quick whistle, stretched their lead to three at 15:02 when Matthias broke in on a 2-on-1 and ripped his ninth of the season past Greiss.
A healthy scratch the last three games, Kassian then picked up just his third goal of the season and first in 22 games after Linden Vey intercepted Greiss’ bobbled clearing attempt behind the net and fed his wide-open linemate in front at 17:21.
Sedin made it 5-0 on the power play — his 11th of the season — at 2:05 of the third after a nice feed from Burrows. The goal was the 115th of his career on the power play and moved him past former captain Markus Naslund for the all-time franchise mark.
Vancouver backup goalie Eddie Lack posted a 3-0 shutout in the only other meeting between the two clubs on Dec. 4, and Miller made a nice stop on a Brandon Sutter breakaway midway through the third to keep the Penguins off the scoreboard.
The Canucks, who were coming off a sluggish and uninspired 5-1 loss to the San Jose Sharks on Thursday, came out much stronger against the Penguins and opened the scoring at 7:13 of the first period when Burrows tipped home a Vrbata one-timer on the power play for his 12th of the season. The goal, which marked the first time the Canucks had scored first in the last seven games, snapped an ugly 4-for-46 stretch with the man advantage going back to Jan. 6.
Horvat then made it 2-0 at 10:46 after pouncing on an Evgeni Malkin turnover at the Pittsburgh blue-line. The Canucks’ rookie winger fed Derek Dorsett, who fanned on his shot but still managed to get the puck back to Horvat, and he banged a shot past Greiss for his fifth.
Notes: Vrbata’s assist on the first goal was the 500th point of his career. … Canucks defenceman Christopher Tanev missed his second straight game with an undisclosed injury.
