The Pittsburgh Penguins have been on a bit of rebound lately, winning 5 of their last 5, outscoring opponents 20 to 9. A lot of that has come from Sidney Crosby (11 points), and an improved save percentage of .944. They are strong down the middle with Crosby, Malkin, Carter and Teddy Blueger.
Both teams are coming off Friday matinees (Pitt 4-1 over Philly and Tranna beat Minnesota 4-3), so we saw back-ups Eric Kalgren and De Casey Smith for tonight’s match.
The pre-game HNIC tribute to #21 was second to none. Captain Daryl, ALS victim Mark Kirton and a less than full capacity Jim McKenny shared some beautiful memories of their team-mate. It didn’t come up on the segment but my very favorite line by McKenny was always “Tiger is the only guy I know who could eat wallpaper right off the wall”.
Similar to yesterday’s matinee, Mitchell Marner let it be known that he was coming after the Eddie Olychuk/Daryl Sittler team record of 18 consecutive games with a point when he opened the scoring at the :40 second mark with a beauty of a deke around de Smith. Mathews got off the snide with a nice, lead feed to gift Mitchy with his 16th in a row. The game went on with a 6:38 non pee break – chances at both ends. I must report that the Toronto Maple Leafs are looking like contenders (again!) and were full measure (15-5 SOG/25-13 attempts) for taking the intermission lead.
The Leafs dodged a bullet early in the second as a scramble resulted in the puck being whistled dead. Pontus Holmberg scored his second from Marner at 10:05 off a harmless forecheck. You could tell the Penguin players were agitated as the sticks started swinging and the nastiness started to rise. That really didn’t matter as Nylander popped his 12th from Mathews and Bunting to take a 3 zip lead in to the third.
Pittsburgh was not going to quit. Coming off a 5 game run, they were not going to cave. Rackell (9th) from Guentzell and Crosby started the ball rolling @ 8:22. Michael Bunting earned his pay for the quarter with a spectacular play off the boards to feed his main man Austin Mattews who scored his 200th even strength goal. 4-1 Leafians.
HOPPER NOTES: Simmonds out, Malgen in – I’m OK with that…Austin seems to be going back to Mitchell’s mode from a couple of years ago – pass first, shoot later – STOP THAT !…now that TJ Brodie is out, is there a player you feel more comfortable sending out there than David Kampf ?…Pierre Engvall lovers – let us hear ye !…your Toronto Maple Leafs are now 9-1-3 in November ! …much respect for Giordano/Holl, Lilegren/Sandin and Mete/Hollowell – who knew ?!? …is there any doubt that Marner is not the best player on the Toronto squad ? 5th road win in a row for Tranna…I really want to wish those hosting family gatherings tomorrow to save me a leg….CHEERS and Comments please !
😁👍
thanks Bud
Love Jennifer’s jewellry work, Roddy !
Fun game to watch. Fun report to read. Thanks for this Dave. Keep er going.
Their success over the past few games with the defense rife with injuries tells me what we have always known about this team.
Highly skilled and no work ethic.
All skill…no will.
Now faced with a weakened lineup they are forced to play hard and step up and it is working.
My hope is when they are back to health they continue the strong work ethic.
It might even lead to a playoff round victory..