The much ballyhooed contest between the Toronto Maple Leafs and former leading scorer Phil Kessel did not live to the buildup, as the Pittsburgh Penguins scored a pair of first period goals and held on for a 2-1 victory at Consol Energy Center on Saturday.
The star winger led the Penguins in ice time with 20:47 and had two shots on goal, but did not score a point in the first meeting since the blockbuster trade on July 1. Former teammates were struck by how strange it was to see Kessel in an opposing uniform.
“It was definitely weird.… Jake Gardiner said about facing Kessel. “I don’t know if you guys know Phil that well, but he’s a pretty funny guy. I didn’t play against him much tonight, but just his facial expressions are funny to watch.…
Evgeni Malkin and Olli Maatta scored for Pittsburgh and Gardiner replied for Toronto, who fall to 1-3-1 on the season and 1-2-0 on the road with the loss.
The Leafs played without Tyler Bozak, who was scratched with a lower body injury that occurred in the second period of the 6-3 victory over the Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday.
Mark Arcobello replaced the injured center and factored in the opening goal, as Leaf killer Malkin blew by the diminutive center and fired a bad angle shot past goalie Jonathan Bernier at 5:49 of the first period.
39 seconds later, Maatta made it 2-0 jumping on an errant pass and firing a blast past the struggling goalie. After surrendering goals against Montreal and Detroit on his first shot, Bernier once again stumbled out of the gate, allowing two goals on the first four Penguins shots.
Toronto coach Mike Babcock opted to use a timeout rather than pulling his starter for a second time this season and the club responded, as Gardiner narrowed the lead to 2-1 on his second goal of the year.
Sidney Crosby sends Phil Kessel in alone but he can't beat Bernier on the backhand. pic.twitter.com/lJjXbcZg4L
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) October 18, 2015Toronto was unable to get another puck past Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 26 saves for the Penguins second straight victory.
“I thought we did a lot of good things. I thought we had them in trouble. We weren’t giving up very much. I thought our ‘D’ ran out of gas a little bit in the third and we didn’t execute.… Babcock said following the game. “I thought Bernier had a real strong game after the first two goals, and hopefully this will be what gets him over the hump and gets him going because we need him to be good.…
The Leafs are off until Wednesday, when they take on the Buffalo Sabres at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo.
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The Toronto Marlies had a difficult time generating scoring chances against the Albany Devils, but Byron Froese scored his team-leading third goal of the season with 1:57 left in regulation to tie the game and TJ Brennan tallied the game winner in overtime for a 3-2 come-from-behind victory at Ricoh Coliseum on Saturday.
Froese, Brennan and William Nylander scored for Toronto and Antoine Bibeau made 19 saves for his second victory of the season. The Marlies move to a perfect 3-0 on the season and finish up their four-game home stand with a rematch with Albany on Sunday afternoon.
Marlies TJ Brennan scoring the OT winner past Albany goalie Yann Danis on Saturday
Image courtesy of Christian Bonin at TSGPhoto
Winger Kasperi Kapanen played his first game of the season after missing a week due to illness and looked a bit rusty in his Marlies debut.
“I thought he was good in spurts and got his legs moving a little bit, but for the most part he was a step behind in terms of what was happening with the pace of play.… Marlies coach Sheldon Keefe said. “When you miss five or six days at this point of the season the way he did with an illness, it takes some time to get going.…
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