First Period

Leafs are playing 11/7 with all their healthy defenders on the ice and none of Reaves, McMann or Steeves.

Tyler Bertuzzi gets the first of a faceoff win, where the Penguins just let him waltz into the net-front.

1-0 Leafs

And just like that, like it so often is, the Penguins get an easy goal to tie it up.

Tie Game

Defensive chaos from the Leafs, partly because Rielly stumbles getting back.

It is tradition that the Leafs give one up when the get one through defensive miscues. It's tradition that the Penguins give up a goal when the game is tied basically through dumb luck.

Matt Knies makes it 2-1 Leafs.

John Ludvig hits Nick Robertson a little high, a little late, and sits down for two minutes. It looked like a "I must finish my check" robot move.

Mitch Marner plays a puck to no one on the power play and aids a rush against. Total braindead pass.

Toronto takes a penalty right after the power play ends when Calle Järnkrok high sticks Sidney Crosby. Much ado is made about the Penguins and their passing on the power play just in time for them to get setup and pass just fine.

Thoughts

Very vigorous back-and-forth games for two teams who played road games yesterday.

Dead even, "defence, what's that?" from both teams.

Second Period

Jarry with a great save on Knies to stop what looked like a sure goal.

Guentzel was allowed to go to the backdoor again, but he missed on the tap in.

Mark Giordano takes a defensive penalty, and it's time to hear more about the Penguins and their power play. This one is awful – they're trying to dump it in for an entry.

And while the Penguins are awful, TJ Brodie takes the opportunity to flip the puck over the glass.

David Kämpf wins a faceoff and essentially kills the 5-on-3 portion.

The Penguins coach kills the rest by playing his grinders in some sort of symbolic gesture.

Bad Brodie is back in force tonight. He hands the puck to the Penguins, and Noel Acciari hooks it around Joe Woll like he's not even there.

Tie Game

Ryan Graves takes a penalty, and away we go with a Leafs power play.

Marner is definitely under some kind of curse tonight. He can't pass to anyone, he can't shoot it, he needs to play with the fourth line some. Keefe keeps using Järnkrok, let Marner put the game on tutorial mode for a few shifts.

The Leafs get pinned, and it's just so depressing it's Matthews, not Kämpf out there failing to get out.

Wow. Erik Karlsson rockets this one off the faceoff won by old man Jeff Carter.

3-2 Penguins

Thoughts

Their bad power play for almost 4 minutes straight, then the Leafs with a good, but fruitless one killed the flow of this game.

Zzzzz. And then you wake up in time to see the Penguins take the lead.

Third Period

Marner actually plays an entire shift as the LD, and does fine. (Not on purpose, he just ended up in that position.)

Radim Zohorna takes a boarding call on William Lagesson, and we do not need one of the good defenders hurt.

Good PK from the Penguins, and Jarry makes a couple of good saves at the end.

The Leafs have come on hard enough in the third to make this game dead even in xG. Or else the Penguins are trying to sit on this lead and hatch out a win.

After a few minutes more, I think it's the Leafs pushing as hard as they can.

Keefe pulls Woll with almost three minutes to go.

Jarry with the game saving, er, save on William Nylander.

More Marner is cursed action, as he pops the puck straight up on a great setup.

The play gets broken up, and the Leafs never recover.

Penguins hatch the win.

Thoughts

Great game from Matt Knies and Joe Woll was all you can ask for.

See you Tuesday for the next game.

Game Coverage