from Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet,

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put the Vancouver Canucks together again.

But Bruce Boudreau will keep trying.

The National Hockey League team, which crashed on its first road trip in October and has seen its fragments smashed into smaller bits since then, blew another three-goal lead Tuesday and lost 5-4 to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It’s not that this game made the Canucks irreparable, blowing a 3-0 first-period head start over the span of 10 minutes. It’s all the games they’ve kicked away in the franchise’s most disappointing first half this century.

Tuesday was the third time in 40 games they lost in regulation time after scoring the first three goals. It was the eighth time they’ve lost while leading by two or more goals.

But, really, what has made them unfixable is the way they defend – leading or otherwise. They have surrendered five or more goals 18 times, nearly every other game. And only the Anaheim Ducks have allowed more goals this season than the 158 pucks the Canucks have fished out of their net.

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Game highlights are below.