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 2nd 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 9th goal of the
season but also the 400th 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 4th 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 3rd
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 7th 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 7th
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 7th 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.
Awesome article!
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