So far this season, the Pittsburgh Penguins have proven they can beat elite teams, even by means that would be best described as ugly.

On Thursday at PPG Paints Arena, the Penguins welcomed Vancouver, which entered the game with the second-most points in the NHL.

The Penguins nearly came away with a less-than-pretty victory after allowing three-first period goals, but Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson beat Tristan Jarry in overtime to lift the Canucks to a 4-3 win.

Sidney Crosby scored twice for the Penguins, including the tying goal with 29 seconds left in regulation after Jarry was pulled for an extra attacker.

“I give the guys a lot of credit for competing and digging in and finding a way to grab a point,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “ … We had our looks in the overtime, and that’s just the nature of overtime.”

The Penguins’ other goal came from defenseman Marcus Pettersson, his first of the season.

Goalie Alex Nedeljkovic started for the Penguins (20-15-5) but was pulled after one period. He allowed three goals on nine shots in his 20 minutes. Jarry faced 20 shots, allowing only the overtime winner.

“We made the decision to switch goalies mainly because we were trying to create a spark,” Sullivan said. “We didn’t think our team had the energy that we needed … in the first period.”

Nedeljkovic received little support from his teammates during the opening period and was blessed with zero favor from the hockey gods.

Canucks forward Brock Boeser’s opening goal at 5:44 of the first period came via a deflection off a shot by Elias Pettersson, with Boeser in perfect position at the edge of the crease.

Elias Pettersson with a gorgeous dish to Brock Boeser (@BBoeser16). ???? pic.twitter.com/OsQLvm4PBj

— NHL (@NHL) January 12, 2024

Vancouver’s next two goals hardly could be blamed on Nedeljkovic.

Just 19 seconds after Boeser scored, Crosby headed to the penalty box for tripping. A mere 28 seconds after that, Boeser struck again, deflecting a shot by J.T. Miller into the net from the high slot.

Brock Boeser steers Miller's perfect pass home for his second goal of the game, 2-0 Canucks!#Canucks pic.twitter.com/rk2jsJxgim

— Hockey Daily 365 l NHL Highlights & News (@HockeyDaily365) January 12, 2024

Nedeljkovic surrendered a similar goal with 2:29 left in the first period when Pettersson deflected a shot from the point by Filip Hronek, putting Vancouver up 3-1.

????Canucks Goal????

Elias Pettersson scores on a nice redirection! That's three points for Pettersson in the 1st period.

3-1 Vancouver

????: Sportsnet | NHL pic.twitter.com/l2TRzXUa22

— CanucksArmy (@CanucksArmy) January 12, 2024

“We weren’t strong enough in front of the net for (Nedeljkovic),” Marcus Pettersson said. “Two tips in front — it’s tough to save those.”

In between Vancouver’s second and third goals, Marcus Pettersson got the Penguins on the board. Penguins forward Jansen Harkins used some nifty skating to keep possession of the puck in the offensive zone, sending a pass to Pettersson, who buried the puck past Canucks netminder Thatcher Demko.

First goal of the year for Marcus Pettersson, and the Pens are on the board!@penguins |#LetsGoPens | @mpettersson16 pic.twitter.com/zh8RO9GKv9

— SportsNet Pittsburgh (@SNPittsburgh) January 12, 2024

In the second period, Crosby scored his first goal of the game on an odd-man rush with forward Rickard Rakell. Opting to keep the puck on the left wing, Crosby fired a snapshot that beat Demko at the 6:05 mark to make it 3-2.

Oh captain, my captain.

Sidney Crosby has 21 points (11G-10A) in 22 career games against the Canucks. pic.twitter.com/Dn5QsIksPV

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 12, 2024

The Canucks entered the game 24-0-0 when leading after two periods and kept that run going.

Two of the Penguins’ four power-play tries came in the third period.

“It would have been nice to get one on the power play there, have that be the difference,” Crosby said. “But it’s hard when you fall behind against a team like that.”

With 2:15 remaining in regulation, Jarry hustled to the Penguins bench to create a 6-on-5 advantage.

The tying goal came after a shot by Erik Karlsson hit the stick of Vancouver defenseman Tyler Myers before bouncing off Crosby’s body into the net. Karlsson and Kris Letang collected assists.

With this goal, Sidney Crosby passes Mike Bossy and takes sole possession of 22nd overall on the @NHL all-time goals list. pic.twitter.com/9pxpRx0KYl

— Pittsburgh Penguins (@penguins) January 12, 2024

In overtime, after the Penguins failed to score on a 3-on-1, the Canucks passed the puck up to the accelerating Elias Pettersson, who beat Jarry to win the game.

“He got a little space,” Jarry said of the goal. “We had a backchecker, and he just had enough room to make a deke left to right and he was able to keep pushing it. He was able to get around me.”

Pettersson scored the overtime winner and finished with four points in the #Canucks 4-3 win over the Penguins!@MichelobULTRACA HIGHLIGHTS | https://t.co/wXNqaRyDcC pic.twitter.com/jTm9zUogNS

— Vancouver Canucks (@Canucks) January 12, 2024

Notes:

• After absorbing a hit in the first period, forward Reilly Smith left the Penguins bench and headed to the locker room. Smith returned and retook the ice for a 40-second shift towards the end of the period but after the first intermission, the Penguins ruled him out for the game’s remainder. Sullivan indicated postgame that Smith is being evaluated for an upper-body injury.

• With his two goals Thursday, Crosby surpassed Mike Bossy for 22nd on the NHL’s career leaderboard. Next up for Crosby, who has 574 career goals, is former Penguin Mark Recchi (577), an early teammate of Crosby’s for parts of the 2005-06, 2006-07 and 2007-08 campaigns.

• Marcus Pettersson’s goal was his first in 52 games dating to Feb. 25 of last year. The 27-year-old has 11 career goals in 402 games played.

• Harkins’ assist was his fourth over the past seven games. He has yet to score a goal in 25 games with the Penguins this season.

• The Penguins are two points removed from holding one of the Eastern Confrence’s two wild-card spots. Their 45 points ties them with New Jersey. Tampa Bay (21-17-5), which won in overtime Thursday, owns the second wild card, behind Philadelphia (21-14-6) with 48 points.

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