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Leafs hot offense chilled by pesky Penguins

October 19, 2018, 2:51 PM ET [96 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs led the NHL with 33 goals and had won five games in a row entering their match with the Pittsburgh Penguins, but the close checking of the back-to-back Stanley Cup winners, the offense provided by Evgeni Malkin and goaltending of Matt Murray resulted in a 3-0 Pens victory at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday.

The night was frustrating for Toronto, as the Penguins seemed one step ahead of them in most of the puck battles and received favorable calls from the officials.

“I thought (Pittsburgh) played good, I didn't think there was tons of room out there tonight. I thought they played fast, they played with good structure.” Leafs coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “I thought they did a good job of that. I mean, it's a 1-0 game. It's a grind out there, there's no room. I thought they were better than us in the first, I thought we took over for about 14 minutes of the second and then they dominated the last six minutes of the second.”

Malkin has traditionally been a Leaf killer throughout his career (21 goals, 41 assists in 36 games) and that was the case once again, as the big Russian had three points on the night, including the game winner midway through the first, an empty net goal late in regulation and an assist on Kris Letang’s empty netter.

Murray made his first start since early October due to concussion issues and was sharp, making 38 saves for the shutout and frustrating Toronto throughout the game, while Frederik Andersen was good in his return after missing one game with knee inflammation, making 36 saves on the night.





Zach Hyman was clipped by a Jake Guentzel high stick late in the first period and received an eight-stitch gash just under his right eyebrow, but the Pens forward did not get penalized. Hyman returned early in the second period sporting a new visor and after the game reflected on how fortunate he was that the injury was not worse.

Yeah, it was close (to my eye). I got lucky, I was really lucky.” Hyman said after the game.
If (the officials) saw it, they would have called it, but they didn’t see it. They apologized to me but it’s fine, it was away from where the puck was.”




Notes

With the shutout, Auston Matthews had his seven-game multi-point game streak snapped at seven games and the struggles of Nazem Kadri continued.

Matthews leads the NHL in goals (10) and points (16), but was mostly held in check in the matchup against Crosby and Malkin. Kadri has 4 assists this season and led the Leafs with five shots on goal vs. Pittsburgh, but was robbed by Murray on a one timer and remains goalless through eight games.




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