Penguins Beat Maple Leafs In Comeback
The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 3-1 Thursday after Toronto took a one-goal lead into the final period. Pascal Dupuis scored twice in the third to complete the Penguins rally.
The first period went scoreless as both teams played well defensively and on the boards. Ben Scrivens was in net for the Maple leafs and only had to face six shots in the opening period.
Tyler Bozak got the Maple Leafs on the board midway through the second, but it wasn’t enough to hold off the streaking Penguins in the third.
Pittsburgh tied the game at one just under 13 minutes into the third period, as Chris Kunitz and Sidney Crosby set up Dupuis for the goal. Five minutes later, they did it again for Dupuis’ second goal of the night and the Penguins first lead.
Craig Adams scored on an empty net with 10 seconds left to seal the victory for the Penguins. Pittsburgh has now won seven straight games and is tied atop the Eastern Conference with the Montreal Canadiens.
Marc-Andre Fleury was tremendous in net for the Penguins, stopping 28-of-29 shots on the way to his 14th win of the season. Maple Leafs goaltender Ben Scrivens made 25 saves in the loss.
The Maple Leafs have now lost four straight games as the Penguins rallied to beat them Thursday. Toronto will take on the Winnipeg Jets Saturday for the third time this season. The two teams split the first two meetings, but the Jets have won two straight including a key victory over the New York Rangers on Friday.
The Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t missed a step over the past few weeks, but Pascal Dupuis made it known that they have to put teams away early if they want to keep winning.
“We can’t make a habit of coming back on teams,” Dupuis said in the locker room after the game. “We can’t play with fire here.”
Nevertheless, the Penguins managed to play much better as the game went on and left Toronto with another win. Pittsburgh is now 20-8-0 on the season and haven’t lost in March.
The Penguins will play their next three games at home after the stop in Toronto. The Rangers come to town Saturday before a match-up with the Boston Bruins on Sunday.
With the Penguins cruising through March, it’s nice to see them beat a physical team on their own ice. The Penguins beat the Maple Leafs and silenced a tough crowd in Toronto with the dramatic comeback to take control of the Eastern Conference.
