A Milestone Night in Pittsburgh

 

Photo From CBC

After Saturday’s win over the Vancouver Canucks the Leafs took a quick trip to Pittsburgh where they would face Sidney Crosby and the Penguins Tuesday night. The Leafs in the days leading up to this game would receive both good news and bad news, the good news would be that Matt Murray would be returning to the crease to face his former team, but the bad news would be that Jake Muzzin is out indefinitely with a spinal injury and will be reevaluated in February and that TJ Brodie will be out a minimum of two weeks with an Oblique Strain.

Regarding Jake Muzzin, I think you will see that Muzzin will not return this season and honestly who knows if he’ll ever return. I have seen fans complain saying Kyle Dubas should have traded him because of his injury history. To those fans you need to realize that you can’t just trade a player and then carry on if you are going to trade a player you need to try and get equal value in return, yes of course there would be the cap space but it isn’t that simple. Honestly, I think the bashing that Muzzin has gotten from fans that wouldn’t have the stones to say it to the person is embarrassing. Jake Muzzin when in the lineup is a valuable piece to this teams blueline and I understand the injuries are piling up, but this Leaf team is better when he is healthy and playing because without him this season the team has a record of 7-3-3 or 7-6.  Now, Jake Muzzin must consider his life after hockey and when it comes to a spinal injury the recovery time is completely unknown because everyone’s body responds differently but he needs to seriously consider his life after hockey, and I personally think you will see him announce his retirement at seasons end. When Muzzin was first traded to the Leafs I, like many fans were excited with his addition because he was a physical defender who could also put the puck in which was something the Leafs needed. So, again all we should really do is wish Muzzin the absolute best in a full recovery instead of bashing the player.

As I said Tuesday the Leafs were on the road in Pittsburgh facing the Penguins, the previous meeting between these teams saw the Pens double up Leafs 4-2 for the Hall of Fame game. Toronto would be looking for redemption and Matt Murray would be making his 2^nd start of the season after missing a month of action with a lower body injury. For the Penguins Casey DeSmith would make his first home start this season.

The opening period saw both teams try an establish their game plan with both teams trading chances and of course a focus for Leaf fans was wondering how Matt Murray was going to look in his return and in this first period Murray in my opinion looked good, he looked calm and did well controlling his rebounds. Midway through the period the Leafs would open the scoring and it would be from Toronto’s captain when his slot shot would beat a screened DeSmith on the blocker side. This goal by Tavares would be his 9^th goal of the season but also the 400^th goal of his career. With Toronto leading 1-0 they would get right back to work looking to grow their lead and just minutes later they would do just that as John Tavares would lead the attack into their opponents zone, Tavares would send a perfect backhand pass to Morgan Rielly and with everyone expecting Rielly to shoot he would instead send the puck to Mitch Marner who was alone in front of the Penguins net, Mitch would then slide the puck around DeSmith for his 4^th goal of the season. The Leafs would head into the first intermission with a well-deserved 2-0 lead.

The second period would be a wild one as goals would come fast and furious and just eleven seconds into the period Auston Matthews and Michael Bunting would head in on a two on one rush and Matthews would assist Bunting on his 3^rd goal of the season Bunting’s first goal since their 4-1-win last month in Winnipeg. With Toronto leading this game 3-0 and seemingly in total control the Penguins would begin to work their way back into the game. Pittsburgh would have possession in the Leafs end and Evgeni Malkin would pass to Jason Zucker at the top of the slot whose shot would be redirected passed Murray by former Leaf draft pick Rickard Rekell for his 7^th goal of the season cutting the Leafs lead to 3-1. Minutes later Rasmus Sandin would be looking to move the puck out of his zone but would fan on the pass turning the puck over to Penguins captain Sidney Crosby who would backhand the puck into the net for his 7^th goal of the season and just like that Pittsburgh’s deficit had shrunken to one with momentum clearly in the favor of the home team. Pittsburgh would then send wave after wave of attack as they would look for the tying goal, but Matt Murray would stand tall between the pipes keeping his team in the lead although there were a few close calls that saw Leaf defender Jordie Benn knock a few pucks off the goal line. With the Leafs on their heels just trying to survive into the second intermission in the final minute of the Leafs would find some breathing room as Auston Matthews would take a shot on goal that would lead to a rebound collected by Pontus Holmberg, his shot would end up being deflected by Michael Bunting for his second goal of the night and Holmberg with the assist would collect his first NHL point in his second game as he slid into the lineup replacing Nick Robertson and thanks to the last minute goal Toronto would lead this one 4-2 after forty minutes of play.

 

The third period of this game played out a lot like the third period against Vancouver Toronto just did a good job shutting the Penguins attack down keeping Toronto’s lead intact. One thing I am sure many Leaf fans were frustrated with last night was their lack of powerplays. There were many times Toronto should have headed to the man advantage, but the officials decided to put the whistle away. A huge positive we saw from this team was despite the frustrating adversity they were facing whether it was blatant missed calls on the Penguins or phantom powerplays for the Pens the Leafs didn’t fold under the pressure they focused on what they could control and continue to shut any attempted Penguin attack down. With just a few minutes remaining in regulation the Penguins would pull their goalie, but William Nylander would put this game out of reach with an empty net goal for his 7^th goal of this season and Toronto would come away with a 5-2 win giving Matt Murray is first win as a member of the Leafs. A crazy stat was mentioned in the post-game show, Matt Murray in his career has a .962 save percentage in his career against the Penguins.

Toronto after flying back from Pittsburgh will have Wednesday off before returning to action against the New Jersey Devils who after last nights win over Montreal have won ten consecutive games.

That’s all for this one thanks as always for reading.