PITTSBURGH, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Matt Cooke and Mats Lindgren had unassisted tallies Tuesday night as the Vancouver Canucks bolted to an early lead and hung on for a 3-2 triumph over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Mario Lemieux, who had missed nearly four weeks with a groin injury and sat out Sunday's All-Star Game to gain more rest, returned. He skated a regular shift Tuesday and keyed the power play, but Pittsburgh never got its offense in gear.
Compounding matters for the Penguins, who fell to 1-4-1 in their last six contests, was sloppy play. After Henrik Sedin scored a power-play goal 7:48 into the contest, Cooke and Lindgren took advantage of poor decision-making to give Vancouver early breathing room.
Alexei Kovalev tried to rally Pittsburgh single-handedly, scoring in each of the last two periods and registering 10 shots in the contest. But the Penguins were 0-for-5 with the man advantage and never managed to record the equalizer.
Vancouver's Dan Cloutier made 30 saves and won for the first time since Jan. 19, while rookie Sebastien Caron stopped 36 shots for the Penguins but fell to 0-5-1 in his last six outings.
