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BOX SCORE
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Robert Lang has become the
Pittsburgh Penguins' power-play specialist.
Lang scored a pair of man-advantage goals and added an assist as
the Penguins ended a two-game losing streak with a 4-2 victory
Friday night over the Vancouver Canucks.
|  | | Penguins defenseman Bob Boughner had a team-high five hits vs. the Canucks on Friday. |
All seven of Lang's goals this season have come on the power
play.
"So far it's been bouncing our way on the power play so
hopefully it's going to keep going our way for a while," said
Lang, who also assisted on Jaromir Jagr's empty-net goal in the
closing seconds.
Lang's goals helped Pittsburgh win for just the second time in
five games and improve to 6-5-1 despite being outshot 32-14.
Lang opened the scoring with 1:36 left in the first period when
he elected to shoot on a 2-on-1 break with Jagr. Lang faked the
pass, then snapped a quick wrist shot from the circle that beat Bob
Essensa on the short side.
He added his second goal at 7:41 of the second period. Essensa
robbed Martin Straka with a diving cross-crease save, but the
rebound bounced straight back to Lang in the low slot and he
snapped in a quick wrist shot.
"It's not by any special focus or anything like that," Lang
said. "It's a big part of the game, especially now with so many
power plays, but you have to score 5-on-5 too."
Greg Hawgood and Todd Bertuzzi scored for the Canucks, who
failed to earn at least one point for the first time in nine games.
Vancouver dropped to 7-3-2-1.
Lang's special teams scoring touch may have given Pittsburgh the
lead, but it was goaltender Garth Snow who saved two points for the
Penguins.
Snow stopped 30 shots, including 13 in the third period to
record his first win with the Penguins. The Canucks had several
great chances to tie it after pulling Essensa with 1:15 left, but
couldn't beat Snow.
"We had more than enough chances at the end of the game to get
a tie and even win the game," Canucks forward Matt Cooke said.
"They had three shots in the third period and unfortunately we
just didn't come through with the last goal."
Jagr sealed the win at 19:37 with his 10th goal.
"I wanted this more than you could imagine," said Snow, who
played for Vancouver last season. "I played all right, but I
didn't play as good as I can. I was pretty fired up and I had to
just try to stay calm. I don't have my best game right now because
I missed training camp so I'm just trying to get back into it
technically."
Pittsburgh, with the NHL's third-best power play, finished
2-for-3 with the man advantage. Vancouver was 0-for-5 on the power
play.
"Special teams was the difference tonight," Canucks coach Marc
Crawford said. "I thought we outplayed Pittsburgh if you look at
all the elements of the game, except the special teams. I really
thought that was all they had. The got their momentum off their
special teams play -- off the penalty kill and off the power play --
and we allowed them to be around because of that."
Rene Corbet was the only Penguin to score at full strength.
Corbet made it 3-1 at 15:32 of the second when he slid headfirst
along the ice and knocked a bouncing puck out of the air and over
Essensa's blocker for his first goal of the season.
"That's my style," Corbet said with a smile. "I don't care. A
goal is a goal, but two points is the key."
Essensa only stopped nine shots and lost for the first time this
season after four victories.
Game notes
When Pittsburgh wraps up their three-game road trip at
Calgary on Saturday, it will be the fifth time the Penguins have
played on consecutive days this season. ... Vancouver has only one
victory over Pittsburgh in the last 17 meetings. ... Pittsburgh
coach Ivan Hlinka played for the Canucks with Crawford when the
team went to the Stanley Cup finals in 1982. ... Vancouver
defenseman Adrian Aucoin missed his second straight game with a
strained groin.
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ALSO SEE
NHL Scoreboard
Pittsburgh Clubhouse
Vancouver Clubhouse
RECAPS
Buffalo 5
Montreal 4
Chicago 6
Detroit 1
Tampa Bay 4
NY Islanders 3
Colorado 5
Carolina 3
Edmonton 3
Minnesota 0
Dallas 2
Phoenix 2
Pittsburgh 4
Vancouver 2
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Rene Corbet pushes the shot past Bob Essensa.
avi: 555 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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