Leafs give the Penguins a whitewash

JT opens the scoring

The Toronto Maple Leafs gave the Pittsburgh Penguins a fresh coat of whitewash last night. It was fitting that they were playing in the PPG arena, { Pittsburgh Paints }.

“We feel good about the road, but it’s time we assert ourselves in our own building,” declared defenceman Morgan Rielly, who scored twice. “It was a good road period to start tonight, we got a (John Tavares) goal off a good zone entry and built off it from there.”
The Leafs talked in the morning about striking first – after five straight home games without a goal through the first 40 minutes. They delivered and then started on an impressive five kills against Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Phil Kessel and the Pittsburgh power-play mafia. Frederik Andersen made 31 saves to become the 15th goalie in franchise history to get 10 shutouts and the first by a Leaf in Pittsburgh since Mikael Tellqvist 12 years ago at the Igloo.
Meanwhile, Rielly, Tavares, Kasperi Kapanen and Mitch Marner had multi-point games in Toronto’s first 60-minute win without the injured Auston Matthews.
“A textbook win on the road, nice to get that feeling back,” Tavares said. “We have to try and have a little bit of that mindset (at home), simplify things maybe, trust who we are as a team and individually.”
Tavares had put some onus on himself the day before with only one goal in his past nine games. He could’ve had a hat trick Saturday, teaming with Marner for 12 of Toronto 33 shots, 30 being the magic number in five of the six road victories. Kapanen helped set up goals by Patrick Marleau and Rielly, Marleau’s second goal in as many games ties him with Keith Tkachuk for 32nd in NHL history at 538.
The support staff of forwards didn’t score, but the likes of Frederick Gauthier, Par Lindholm and Andreas Johnsson contributed defensively, which Connor Brown stressed before the game should not be sacrificed in favour of offensive gambles to compensate for Matthews.

Freddy Andersen stones the Penguins

After playing Vegas and Jersey this week it’s off to Boston and then three on the West Coast.
The Leafs pounded their nemesis, Matt Murray, who came in with a record of 3-0-1 and a .960 save percentage against them. Malkin was looking to add to 62 points in 36 games versus Toronto, but the Leafs reversed the result of last month where he dominated the scoresheet in a 3-0 win at SBA.
Tavares tipped a Marner shot after the latter moved through the slot, among a couple of the slippery Marner’s machinations through the match at even strength and special teams.
Kapanen and Marleau also teamed for a beauty, the latter keeping pace down the middle on a rush. With little room to shimmy, Marleau took Kapanen’s pass, braked and tucked it past Murray before both tumbled in the net.
Murray left the game briefly for apparent equipment repairs, returning in time to have Rielly jump into the play for the first of two and six on the year. Rielly is now off to one of the best points’ surges by an NHL defenceman the past decade with 18 points in 14 games, tied with former Leaf Tomas Kaberle, one ahead of Nicklas Lidstrom.
But coach Mike Babcock liked Rielly’s defensive game just as much and found little to fault as the team headed for the airport. Even the unlucky Zach Hyman picked up his first goal, a late-game short-handed effort at that.
“Tavares’s line, Naz’s line dominated and we scored first so we weren’t chasing the game,” noted the coach.

Same old Leafs putting a beating on the helpless Penguins