Maple Leafs at Penguins - 03-28-10
PREGAME
-Greetings from our living room. Our apologies for not doing this thing live from Mellon Arena. We've fallen ill.
-Sergei Gonchar is also feeling under the weather as he is once again a scratch along with Evgeni Malkin and Eric Godard.
-The Maple Leafs' scratches are Jeff Finger and Jamie Lundmark.
-It's three-name French Canadien goaltender day as Marc-Andre Fleury and Jean-Sebastien Giguere are your starters in net.
-While being interviewed by Dan Potash, Alexei Ponikarovsky displays an odd little poof of hair through the top of his lid:
-FSN Pittsburgh shows off the lines and defensive pairings:
FIRST PERIOD
16:46: Giguere turns away a shot by Kris Letang.
16:38: Rickard Wallin gets loose behind the defense. He moves in on a breakaway and attempt to go backhand but is denied by Fleury's left leg. Two Maple Leafs, Wayne Primeau and Colton Orr, charge in on the rebound. Orr gets credit for the rebound. Wallin and Luke Schenn get assists. What a complete breakdown on defense. Fleury was left out to dry. Orpik was slow to get back to defend Orr and Primeau. Maple Leafs 1-0.
15:58: Giguere fights off a slapper by Orpik from the top of the slot.
15:38: Bill Guerin turns and whips a wrister from just outside the right circle. Giguere boots it out.
14:16: Christian Hanson whips a wrister on net from right wing. Fleury traps it against his chest.
11:05: Off a nice give and go with Matt Cooke, Adams jabs a shot on net from the left circle. It clunks off the side of the cage.
10:11: The puck is chipped down into the right corner. Mike Rupp goes barrlesi in there. He outworks Francois Beauchemin and Fredrik Sjostrom for possession and from his stomach, he's able to flick it into the crease. Tyler Kennedy is in front and punches it by Giguere. What an effort by Rupp to create that. Adams and Rupp get assists. It's Adams' 100th career point. The "Hey Song" and that WWE "KENNEDY!" clip are played. Maple Leafs 1, Penguins 1.
8:34: Kaberle whips a wrister on net fromt he right point. It juuuust goes wide to the far side.
7:33: Fedotenko is nabbed for hooking Beauchemin. Adams, Orpik, Letang and Pascal Dupuis take the ice.
6:15: Away from the puck in the left faceoff circle in the Penguins' zone, Mark Eaton drops Mikhail Grabovski. That's two minutes for interference. The Maple Leafs will have a two-man advantage for 41 seconds. Adams, Jordan Staal and Orpik take the ice.
5:33: Fedotenko's penalty is killed. The Maple Leafs still have 1:19 of power play time.
5:24: Fedotenko whips the puck down ice for a big clear.
4:19: John Mitchell has a chance to the right of the crease but can't get a clean shot off. The Penguins push the puck up ice and essentially kill off the rest of the Eaton penalty. As Paul Steigerwald mentions, they have killed 31 consecutive penalties.
3:34: Fleury fights off a wrister by Kaberle from the right point.
2:08: Nikolai Kulemin gets behind the defense and gets a forehand shot off from teh slot. Fleury's right leg denies him. Big save.
1:02: Crosby snaps off a pass from the right circle to Ponikarovsky in the left circle. Ponikarovsky directs a one-touch shot on net. Giguere fights it off.
0:59: Giguere fights off a wrister by Letang from the top of the slot.
0:34: McKee sneaks in from the left point and clunks a wrister off the side of the net.
0:00: End of period. Maple Leafs 1, Penguins 1.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-That was an odd period all around. Both teams seemed to be in kind of a funk. Play was sloppy it seemed for both teams.
-Fleury was the Penguins' best player that period. He bailed out his defense a few times.
-The Penguins' penaly kill is just outstanding right now.
-Craig Adams had a strong period. Forget his assist, his defense really stood out to us.
-Tomas Kaberle is still pretty talented.
-The Penguins lead in shots 10-9.
-Letang leads the game with three shots.
-Kulemin leads the Maple Leafs with two.
-Kaberle leads the game with 10:02 of ice time.
-Alex Goligoski and Jordan Leopold each lead the game with 6:47 of ice time.
-The Penguins lead in faceoffs, 9-5 (64 percent).
-Sidney Crosby is 4 for 5 (80 percent).
-Hanson is 2 for 2 (100 percent).
-Leopold leads the game with two blocked shots.
-There's a solid piece during the intermission about former Penguin Kim Clackson and his family.
SECOND PERIOD
18:16: Kunitz cranks a slapper on net from the left wing. Giguere gloves it.
17:58: Play is halted as Fedotenko is sprawled out in the neutral zone. He was tripped up by Walling then took a stick in the face from Wallin. Not that Wallin really deserved one, but there's no penalty. Penguins trainer Chris Stewart comes out to attend to Fedotenko who eventually recovers and returns to the bench.
16:45: Hanson swats a one-timer from the slot wide of the cage.
16:35: Beauchemin cranks a slapper from the right point. It hits a body in front.
15:46: Orr continues to show some nice offensive touch as he deals a pass into th the slot. Primeau is there and one-touches it on net. Fleury makes the tough save. The Maple Leafs have dominated puck possession in the Penguins' zone.
15:06: That was ugly. Phil Kessel takes a pass and from just above the right circle, he uses Orpik as a screen and snaps off a wrister which sneaks between his right arm and torso. It's a sneaky shot by a dangerous goal scorer, but Fleury needs to make that save. Kulemin and Tyler Bozak get assists. Maple Leafs 2-1. Dan Bylsma calls a time out to get his team organized. And to karate chop Ponikarovsky's head:
-We think.
14:19: Cooke whips a wild wrister from the right point. Giguere gloves it.
12:31: The most skilled player on the team gets a garbage goal. Orpik swats a one-timer from the left point. Giguere makes the save but leaves a bad rebound in the slot. Crosby fights off Schenn and Beauchemin and chops the puck by Giguere's right leg. Orpik and Ponikarovsky get assists. The "Hey Song" is played. Maple Leafs 2, Penguins 2.
10:39: Goligoski chops a slapper on net from the right point. Giguere fights it off.
9:21: Fedotenko whips a wrister on net from the right win. Giguere covers to freeze play.
9:17: And the most skilled player on the team scored a little bit of a prettier goal this time. Off a faceoff win, Orpik sneaks up the wall on the right wing and snaps off quick backhanded pass to Crosby in the faceoff circle. Crosby rips a wrister which burns Giguere by his his right shoulder on the far side. What a shot. It's Crosby's 47th goal and gives him the league-lead in goals. Orpik gets the only assist. Orpik to Crosby is all of a sudden a great connection. The "Hey Song" is always great. Penguins 3-2.
8:48: Letang is nabbed for slashing Kuleimin. Cooke, Staal, Eaton and Leopold take the ice.
7:20: Luca Caputi tried to jam one but is denied by Fleury. Promote Ray Shero.
7:06: Adams moves up the right wing and rips a wrister from the faceoff circle wide on the near side.
6:48: Letang's penalty is killed. That's 32 in a row now.
6:39: Staal has a chance in the right circle but whips a wrister wide on the near side.
5:56: Letang blasts a big slapper from the right point. Giguere makes the glove save.
5:35: Victor Stalberg races up the right wing, gets a step on Goligoski and attacks forehand. Fleury spralws and holds it out with his glove hand. what a tough save.
5:25: Off a delayed penalty, Carl Gunnarsson snaps off a wrister from the slot. It beats Fleury high. Fleury was screened pretty well by Stalberg on that play and didn't appear to have a chance. Sjostrom and Stalberg get assists. Maple Leafs 3, Penguins 3.
4:37: Hanson chucks the puck out of play. That's two minutes for delay of game. Crosby, Letang, Ponikarovsky, Fedotenko and Goligoski take the ice.
3:21: Crosby steals the puck in the neutral zone, races up ice, gains the blue line and fakes a shot. He pulls his blade down and snaps off a wrister which Giguere boots out.
3:09: Ponikarovsky chops a shot on net from the right circle. Giguere eats it up.
2:50: HUGE SAVE! Kunitz moves up the right win and sends a cross ice backhanded pass to Guerin who swats a shot on net. Giguere is able to boot it out with his right foot. What a save.
2:37: The Hanson penalty is killed.
2:28: Staal has two chances in from the slot denied by Giguere.
2:03: Goligoski deals a slap pass into the slot. Guerin once again re-directs it on net. Giguere holds it out. Giguere is sharp right now.
0:54: Crosby steals a puck in the neutral zone, reverses direction, gains the blue line and distributes a pass to Kennedy on the right wing. Kennedy rips a wrister which Giguere gloves. Maxime Talbot comes crashing in and starts a bit of a scrum with John Mitchell.
0:37: Off a give and go with Crosby, Rupp chops a shot on net from the right circle. Giguere makes another tough save.
0:06: The Penguins are nabbed for too many men on the ice. Kennedy will serve the penalty. Talbot, Adams, Orpik and Letang take the ice.
0:00: End of period. Maple Leafs 3, Penguins 3.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-Things picked up quite a bit that period. There was a lot more skating and more scoring opportunities. But both teams were still sloppy.
-The Penguins have a 26-19 lead in shots.
-Letang leads the game with four shots.
-Sjostrom, Primeau, Gunnarsson, Mitchell, Kulemin and Dion Phaneuf each lead the Maple Leafs with two.
-Phaneuf leads the game with 16:42 of ice time.
-Goligoski leads the game with 15:04 of ice time.
-The Penguins have a 21-18 lead in faceoffs (54 percent).
-Staal is 5 for 6 (81 percent).
-Hanson is 4 for 5 (80 percent).
-Leopold and Letang each lead the game with three blocked shots.
-Stalberg leads the Maple Leafs with two.
THIRD PERIOD
20:00: The Maple Leafs will have 1:54 of power play time on fresh ice. Cooke, Staal, Letang and Orpik take the ice.
19:19: Off a turnover by the Maple Leafs in the Penguins' zone, Staal pushes a puck up ice for Cooke who gets loose behind the defense. He moves in on net and whips a wrister wide to the right of the cage.
18:06: Kennedy returns to the ice. The Penguins allowed very little there to the Maple Leafs.
16:30: Primeau dishes a pass into the slot. Orr is there and but can't quite get his stick on the puck. Orr then basically falls and drives his forearm into the back of Fleury's head. No call.
16:17: Fleury takes a dumb penalty as he basically tries to hip check Orr. That's two minutes for interference. Ponikarovsky will serve the penalty
15:34: Fleury fights off a chance by Ponikarovsky.
15:26: Despite taking puck off the nose, Eaton is able to chip the puck down ice. He returns to the bench with blood on his schnoz.
14:42: Kessel snaps off a wrister fromt he right circle. Fleury kicks out to make a tough save.
14:29: Fleury scrambles to his left side and is able to fight off a wraparound attempt by Kulemin.
14:22: Phaneuf blasts a slapper from the top of the slot. Fleury makes the save without his stick. Bozak is right there in front of the crease and punches the rebound under Fleury. That's the first power play goal allowed by the Penguins in 32 chances. Phaneuf and Kessel get assists. Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 3.
13:42: Sjostrom is called for hooking Crosby. And Brooks Orpik stares a hole through an official:
-Crosby, Ponikarovsky, Fedotenko, Goligoski and Letang take the ice.
13:28: Letang strikes a slapper from the right point. Despite traffic, Giguere knocks it down and covers.
12:52: Crosby tees up a slapper from the right half wall. Giguere knocks it away.
11:42: Sjostrom's penalty is killed. Not a lot going on there for the Penguins.
10:48: A slapper by Kaberle from the right circle is booted out by Fleury.
9:40: Adams rips a wrister from the right circle. Giguere hangs on despite a little bit of interference by Rupp.
8:59: Letang makes a nice rush to gain the blue line in the middle of the ice and swats a wrister on net which Giguere fights off. Ponikarovsky is in front attemptiing an re-direction.
8:25: Fleury just robbed Grabovski on a backhander from in tight.
4:39: Staal appears to get clipped in the face behind the Maple Leafs' net. No call.
4:01: Ponikarovsky grips and rips a wrister from the right circle. Giguere knocks it down and covers.
3:23: Giguere just doesn't want to lose this game. Fedotenko centers a pss intothe missle of hte ice, Crosby takes it, gains teh blue line, blows by Phaneuf who falls over and moves in on net. Crosby snaps off a wrister attacking Giguere's five hole. Giguere makes the save.
2:59: Kennedy lifts a wrister from a tough angle on the right wing. Giguere fights it off.
2:48: Orpik slide a pass to Leopold at the right point. Leopold blasts a one-timer. Cooke is right in front on a screen. He gets a piece of the puck with his blade and re-directs it over Giguere for the game-tying goal. What an effort by Cooke. Leopold and Orpik get assists. Orpik now has three assists. Dang. The "Hey Song" is played. Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 4.
2:08: Kunits tries to jam one by Guiguere from the right wing. Giguere holds it out.
0:42: Goligoski strieks a one-timer from the right point. Giguere boots it out.
0:00: End of period. Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 4.
THIRD INTERMISSION
-Matt Cooke leaves the ice with equipment manager Dana Heinze.
-The Penguins have a 39-27 lead in shots.
OVERTIME
4:24: Letang rushes up the ice, gains the blue line, gains a step on Phaneuf and whips a backhander on net. Giguere makes the save. Phaneuf dumps Letang behind the net.
4:04: Giguere fights off a wrister by Staal from the left wing.
2:22: Bozak makes a nice rush of his own up the right wing, gets by Goligoski and has a shot booted out by Fleury. Kaberle follows up on the rebound and pokes it on net. Fleury kicks that out with another save.
1:37: Crosby rushes up the ice, blows by Beauchemin and appraoches the net with backhander. As Beauchemin whips his stick at Crosby, Crosby fights it off and gets a backhander on net. Giguere makes the save. Beauchemin is called for slashing. Big chance here for the Penguins with only three defenders on the ice. Crosby, Letang, Ponikarovsky and Goligoski take the ice.
1:08: A slapper by Goligoski from the top of the slot is blocked
0:49: Gunnarson blocks another shot. This time its by Crosby off the right half wall.
0:44: A one-timer by Letang off the left half wall is eaten up by Giguere.
0:30: Goliogski strikes a slapper from the top of the slot. Ponikarovsky re-directs it on net. Giguere makes the initally save. Ponikarovsky jabs the rebound on net. Giguere absorbs that.
0:00: End of period. Maple Leafs 4, Penguins 4.
FOURTH INTERMISSION
-Just for the heck of it:
SHOOTOUT
-Letang, seemingly unfazed by Brooks Orpik's stare, is up first. He weaves up the crease, approaches the net and attacks with a backhander on Giguere's five hole. Giguere closes the gates.
-Kessel goes for the Maple Leafs. He approaches with speed, approaches the net and before he can do anything, Fleury knocks it away with his stick.
-Crosby goes wide initally to the left, returns to the slot, moves in on ane and rips a wrister by Giguere's glove hand. It clinks off the post and into the cage. Penguins 1-0.
-Kulemin can tie it up. He moves in and goes with the worst backhand attempt ever. He couldn't have telegraphed that more if he sent out a press release. Suffice it to say, Fleury makes the easy save.
-Dupuis can win it, He goes slightly to the right, moves in and snaps of a wrister by Giguere's blocker. What a shot. End of shootout. Penguins 2, Maple Leafs 0. End of game. Penguins 5, Maple Leafs 4.
POSTGAME
-On the surface, this probably isn't the greatest win for the Penguins. They were playing one of the worst teams in the league and that team was playing on less than 24 hours of rest and appearing in its second road game in as many nights. On paper, this should have been a cleaner two points.
-But forget that. The Penguins were down by a goal late and came through to win the game against a team full of desperate players. No the Maple Leafs aren't desperate to make the posteason. They're desperate to earn regular NHL jobs. This is a quality win.
-Marc-Andre Fleury gave up four goals, but he won this game. At the 8:25 mark, with his team down down by a goal, he made a point blank save off a backhnder by Mikhail Grabovski. If that save isn't made, the Maple Leafs win this game. Instead, Fleury put his teammates in a position to win this game. Yeah, his save percentage isn't anything great, but that doesn't matter with Fleury. He usually makes the important saves when they really matter.
-For the second day in a row, the Penguins got some goals from some secondary sources of scoring. Yesterday, they got goals from Pascal Dupuis, Matt Cooke and Ruslan Fedotenko. Today, they got goals from Cooke and Tyler Kennedy. With Evgeni Malkin and Sergei Gonchar out, contributions like that are so valuable.
-Goligoski had a rough game once again. For a guy with nice skating ability, he was caught flat footed more than a few times. Whenever Sergei Gonchar is healthy again, we'd rest Golgoski instead of Jay McKee.
-Kris Letang continued to step up in Gonchar's absence. He looks more confident with his shot and his ability to carry the puck.
-The Penguins dominated shots, 45-29.
-Letang led the game with nine. Dang.
-Dion Phaneuf led the Maple Leafs with four.
-Francois Beauchemin led the game with 30:08 of ice time.
-Goligoski led the Penguin with 25:25.
-The Maple Leafs led in faceoffs, 31-25 (54 percent).
-Jordan Staal was 6 for 10 (60 percent).
-Christian Hanson was 4 for 6 (67 percent).
-Jordan Leopold led the game with five blocked shots.
-Carl Gunnarsson and Victor Stalberg led the Maple Leafs with two blocke shots.
-Craig Adams recorded his 100th career point.
-Brooks Orpik's three assists were a career high for points.
-Ponikarovsky's assist was the 150th of his career.
-Cooke scored his 15th goal of the season and matched a career-high set in 2002-03 with the Canucks.
-Cooke moved past Andy Brickley, Earl Ingarfield, Fredrik Olausson and Pat Price for 119th place in points in franchise history. All five players have 60 points, but Cooke (28) has more goals than Brickley (25), Ingarfield (23), Olausson (13) and Price (8).
-For the moment, the Penguins are back in first place in the Atlantic Division. The Devils are down 3-0 in the second period against the Flyers at the moment.
-Highlights.