VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- There's no satisfaction in losing to one of the NHL's most nondescript franchises -- the Canucks were born in 1970 and are currently tied with the Vegas Golden Knights in the Stanley Cup championship standings -- so the Penguins shouldn't have engaged in any self-congratulatory fare following their 4-2 loss Saturday night at Rogers Arena.
And to their credit, they didn't.
Not even if they acquitted themselves generally well and dominated the shot clock, 39-21.
Not even if they battled back to nearly tie multiple times after Vancouver's 20-year-old Brock Boeser capped his hat trick with the winning goal at 5:56 of the third period.
Not even if it was the fifth game on an eight-day road trip encompassing all four time zones.
Not even if their 16th game of the season in 31 days represents the highest such total in the league.
But I'll be damned if this group shouldn't leave here feeling a whole lot better about themselves now than when they departed last week, the 1-3-1 mark notwithstanding. Because under normal circumstances, they'd blow out this bound-for-.500-again opponent. And more important, because somehow, somewhere along the way, probably between Winnipeg and Edmonton, they managed to right a lot of wrongs and got back to being the best version of themselves for sustained stretches.
With one exception.
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