Ondrej Pavelec of the Winnipeg Jets makes a save against the Toronto Maple Leafs during their NHL game on Wednesday.


By Jason Mackey/The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review


Eric Fehr isn’t on pace for a 40-goal season.
He’s actually headed for 70 if this continues.
Maybe all of them short-handed, too.
Fehr scored his second short-handed goal in as many games after making his Penguins debut Saturday to provide critical breathing room during Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Canucks at Rogers Arena.
Signed as a free agent July 28, Fehr missed the first 10 games of the season following offseason elbow surgery.
It appears as though he’s making up for lost time.
“Having played on the power play before in the past, it’s difficult when the penalty killers keep coming after you,” Fehr said. “That’s what we’ve tried to do: chase them up ice and force them to move pucks.
“We’re not expecting to score every night, but we want to make them make good plays and force the pucks out of their hands.”
Yet Fehr has scored every night.
In the process, he became only the 13th player in franchise history to begin his Penguins career with goals in multiple games.
It’s the first time a Penguin had short-handed goals in consecutive games since Ryan Malone in 2006.
Fehr’s goal came on an individual rush that started below his own blue line and ended with a wrist shot from 14 feet that beat Canucks goaltender Ryan Miller at 10 minutes, 12 seconds of the third period.
“Pretty one,” Sidney Crosby said. “That was a nice individual effort.”
Fleury stopped 18 of 20 shots as the Penguins won their fifth straight game and eighth in their past nine. It was the opener of a three-game Western Canada trip.
David Perron got his first goal in 24 games to end an 0-for-28 shooting funk. Crosby scored on the power play for his second goal in 12 games.
For much of the night, though, it looked like another stellar performance from Fleury, who entered the game 6-1 with a 1.29 goals-against average over his past seven starts.
Fehr’s goal gave the Penguins a three-goal lead, but the Canucks jumped back in it with goals by Henrik Sedin and Jannik Hansen late in the third.
“We just really sat back there,” Crosby said. “We’ve got to find a way to control the play a little bit more when teams start to press like that.”The Penguins held on because of the cushion built by their special teams.
Their penalty killed has erased 17 straight and 27 of 28, but their power play provided an unexpected boost with Crosby’s tally.
It followed a blown penalty-shot call for Perron. The goal sequence started when Phil Kessel gathered a rebound, shifted to the point and flung a shot toward the net. Crosby jumped in front and backhanded the puck past Miller.
“Really nice pass from Phil there,” Crosby said. “I saw that they cheated up on (Evgeni Malkin). Left me down there. I missed one that (Kris Letang) gave me earlier. I tried to stop this one to make a play. Nice pass from him.”After getting swept in the season series against Vancouver last season, failing to score a goal in either game, the Penguins improved to 5-2-0 in their last seven games against the Canucks.They’ve won four of their last six here.