Toronto Maple Leafs stun Pittsburgh Penguins in OT 2-1

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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Toronto Maple Leafs stun Pittsburgh Penguins in OT 2-1. Here is the game summary.

GAME SUMMARY         |           EVENT SUMMARY        |           FACEOFF SUMMARY

ON THE SCORESHEET

Nikita Zaitsev put the Maple Leafs on the board at 13:05 of the first period, 14 seconds after Pittsburgh opened the scoring. Zaitsev’s goal is his first as a Maple Leaf and the first of his NHL career.

Jake Gardiner scored the game-winning goal for the Maple Leafs at 2:00 of the overtime period. Gardiner leads Maple Leafs defencemen in goals (6).

Mitch Marner picked up the primary assist on Zaitsev’s goal and registered the primary assist on Gardiner’s overtime winner. With two assists tonight, Marner moved into the Maple Leafs lead in assists (15).

The Maple Leafs are 7-0-0 when Mitch Marner registers two or more points this season.

James van Riemsdyk also registered an assist in the first period. The assist is van Riemsdyk’s 200^th point as a member of the Maple Leafs.

Toronto is 11-2-3 when James van Riemsdyk registers a point this season.

Frederik Andersen stopped 33 Penguins shots in tonight’s game. The Maple Leafs are 5-0-1 when Andersen makes 30-39 saves.

SHOTS FIRED

The Maple Leafs outshot by the Penguins by a 49-34 margin.

Toronto out-attempted Pittsburgh by an 83-61 margin in all situations and 60-44 at 5-on-5.

Toronto’s 20 shots on goal in the second period are a new season high for shots on goal in the middle frame.

With tonight’s 49 shots, the Maple Leafs have registered 40 or more shots in consecutive games for the first time this season. The Maple Leafs have at least 40 shots in three of their last five games.

Morgan Rielly registered a team-high six shots and 10 shot attempts.

HOME AGAIN

The Maple Leafs are 9-5-2 on home ice.

Toronto’s all-time record is 78-76-17-7 in 178 games against the Penguins and 43-31-11-3 in 88 games played in Toronto.

Tonight’s attendance was 19,553.

The Maple Leafs wrap up their five-game homestand on Dec. 19 vs. Anaheim at 7:30 p.m.

MAPLE LEAFS LEADERS

OF NOTE…

At 1:27 of the first period, Frederik Andersen stopped Pittsburgh’s Carl Hagelin on a penalty shot. The last penalty shot attempt against a Maple Leaf goaltender came on Dec. 17, 2015 when Jonathan Bernier stopped San Jose’s Chris Tierney.

At 13:05 of the first period Pittsburgh requested a Coach’s Challenge to review whether James van Riemsdyk interfered with Pittsburgh goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury before the puck entered the net. After review, the Referee confirmed no goaltender interference. Therefore, the original call stands – good goal Maple Leafs. As a result, the Penguins forfeited their timeout.

The Maple Leafs are now 1-0-1 when tied after two periods.

Toronto has a 4-7-5 record when outshooting their opponents this season.

Maple Leafs rookies combined for three points (1 goals, 2 assists) in tonight’s game. Toronto’s rookies had combined for 97 points (38 goals, 59 assists) in the Maple Leafs’ previous 29 games.

UPCOMING GAMES:

Monday, Dec. 19 vs. Anaheim Ducks, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

Thursday, Dec. 22 at Colorado Avalanche, 9:00 p.m. (TSN 4, FAN 590)

Friday, Dec. 23 at Arizona Coyotes, 9:00 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, TSN 1050)

Wednesday, Dec. 28 at Florida Panthers, 7:00 p.m. (Sportsnet, TSN 1050)

Thursday, Dec. 29 at Tampa Bay Lightning, 7:30 p.m. (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)

MIKE BABCOCK POSTGAME: DECEMBER 17, 2016

On the third period penalty kill performance:

I thought we did a real good job on the 5-on-3 – Smith did a really good job, in particular – Zaitsev, [Polak], [Rielly], Komarov as well for us. Obviously it’s a good win. we got six points in the segment, that’s what we’re trying to do. Even though we suffered some shootout losses we were still able to get our six points.

On if he was worried when the game went to overtime:

Not really. [Andrew Brewer] said he was jumping up and down that we didn’t have to do a shootout. Pittsburgh is a good team. We thought we played well, we thought we had lots of opportunity and it’s nice. We’re aware that they played last night but it’s nice to get the points. Obviously Anaheim lost tonight, so we’ll have a good Anaheim team [on Monday].

On Nikita Zaitsev’s performance and getting his first NHL goal:

Really good – he’s really competitive, he’s hard to play against and he’s a really good player. We’re fortunate to have him.

On keeping Crosby off the scoresheet:

I don’t know, the guys were ready to go. Like I said, they played last night and sometimes you don’t have the same juice back-to-back. Let’s not kid ourselves, Crosby, he might go the odd night without hurting you badly but let’s not get carried away.

On if he tries to temper enthusiasm after a win over a team like Pittsburgh:

We don’t tell them it’s just another win. We tried to talk about – we showed a lot today about how detailed they were and how good they were. That’s what we’re trying to do. I think you should follow that up with feeling good about our team. In saying that though, we won this segment and we’ve only won two segments since we started the year. Now we’ve got to go win another segment. That starts against Anaheim.

On the way they went to the net:

I thought we did a good job. Obviously the other thing is Letang and Daley didn’t play so it was probably easier to cycle in their zone than it would normally be. I thought, really, in the first period we did a real good job of that in particular.

On using five-game segments as a way of tracking the team’s performance:

When the wheels are off and the standings don’t look as good as they should, it gives you a focus. When the standings look too good, it still gives you a focus. It works both ways. It works when you’re on the wrong side of things and it works when you’re on the right side of things.

On if he used the five-game segment system in Detroit:

One-hundred percent.

FREDERIK ANDERSEN (33 SAVES, W): DECEMBER 17, 2016

On tonight’s game:

It was great. We really got the bounce there to get [the winner] in, I think we played well most of the night. The penalty kill came up huge for us obviously in the third, so that was big.

On earning a win against a team like Pittsburgh:

Obviously you feel good. To play well against a team like [Pittsburgh], I think we did for over 60 minutes so that was positive.

On tonight’s win as a complete team performance:

Yeah, I think so. We played pretty good. You’re not going to have the puck the whole night obviously and you’re going to have shifts where they come harder. I think we did really well.

On his mindset going into a two-minute 3-on-5 penalty kill in the third period:

We had to get it done. We did really well the first, at least, over two or three minutes to keep them out of the zone and then they had a few shots, but nothing too dangerous. We did really well there.

JAKE GARDINER (GAME-WINNING GOAL, 23:15 TOI): DECEMBER 17, 2016

On having an OT game go their way:

It seems like lately they haven’t been. Obviously we’ve been going to shootouts. It’s nice to get it done before we even went there.

On his game-winning goal:

Mitch was all over the defenceman and created a turnover and I saw my chance to jump. The puck squirted loose – I was a little nervous I was going to flub it and I kind of did. Luckily it went in.

On Zaitsev scoring his first goal:

Yeah, that was huge. He’s pretty pumped up right now. After he got that goal he was probably our best D tonight. He was playing Crosby very well and didn’t give him much.

On beating Pittsburgh after losses to teams lower in the standings:

We played about as good as we could tonight, but it also shows we can play with everybody. I don’t think – when the Pittsburgh Penguins come in here it’s not like we’re nervous or anything. We expect to win and that’s every single night. Whatever team it is, we expect to win.

MITCH MARNER (TWO ASSISTS, 16:42 TOI): DECEMBER 17, 2016

On his play to set up the OT winner:

[Bozak] and [Zaitsev] were kind of switching all throughout the zone. Obviously Bozie gave it to me, I kind of walked around and got a shot. The guy carried it up and it hit the ref or something – it kind of had a lucky bounce for me. I got to the net and hoped someone was coming down and luckily [Gardiner] was.

On earning a tight win over Pittsburgh:

Obviously we’ve been in a lot of games leading in the third. To pull this one out against a good team is pretty important for us. Now we’ve got to make sure we’re ready for the next one.

On what the win means for the team:

I think a lot. We had a lot of shots on net, we got guys to the net and a lot of second opportunities, which is big. Our power play again tonight, we were creating a lot of chances. Eventually they were going to go in for us.