Pittsburgh and Toronto played an entertaining game on Saturday night which ultimately ended in a one goal victory for the Maple Leafs. Pittsburgh battled back to make it a one goal game, but could not find the tying goal.

Toronto is a lot like the Penguins. They have a lot of skilled players and are not afraid to let that talent loose. The Maple Leafs are a very tough matchup if you are not getting average goaltending or better. Tristan Jarry allowed three first period goals and was pulled from the contest. Casey DeSmith came in and made eight saves on nine shots after Jarry was only able to save 13 out of 16. The result was a well below average save percentage. The Penguins are currently tied with the Ottawa Senators for the worst 5v5 save percentage in the entire league (90.54%). Some good news is that Matt Murray practiced in full and should be ready to return in the very near future, perhaps next game. Murray hasn’t had a great year to this point. He still remains the Penguins best option in net and getting him back should help.

Kris Letang is starting to be more assertive in the offensive zone and I think this is a good thing for his production moving forward. Despite his “rough” start to the year Letang does lead all defensemen in assists with 22. The thing that I have noticed the last couple of games is that he is starting to shoot the puck more, especially on the power play. This is only going to increase his assist totals due to his rebounds being put back in the net. The power play is going to find more time and space because Letang’s shot will have to be respected. The Toronto game was one of his better outings in attempting shots.



His last three games have shown some improvement after a stretch of being passive. The more active Letang is the better the Penguins are for it in my opinion.

A byproduct of his willingness to shoot was evident on the Malkin goal. Watch the Leafs penalty killer lean towards Letang’s passing lane and that gave Malkin just enough time and space to let his shot rip



This was one of the ultra-rare games in which both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin scored a goal and the Penguins lost

Pens drop to 72-5-2 when Crosby and Malkin both score, 41-3-0 at home. Three of those 7 overall losses, and 2 of those 3 home losses, at the hands of the Leafs.

— Bob Grove (@bobgrove91) December 10, 2017

For whatever reason the Maple Leafs have been able to overcome what most all other teams cannot.

Future Penguin Tyler Bozak scored twice against the Penguins. Here is Bozak getting to the paint and mashing home a bad rebound by Jarry



Phil Kessel was on the ice further proving the correlation between Bozak’s offensive success and Kessel’s on-ice presence.

Bozak’s second goal was back breaking for the Penguins. Pittsburgh had just scored to make it a one-goal game and there was only a couple of minutes left in the period. Instead of heading into the third period down by one it was Toronto who answered back and earned their two-goal spot again



Nice tip. Will look good in black and gold.

The Penguins will be back in action against the Colorado Avalanche tonight.

Thanks for reading!

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