The Toronto Maple Leafs will take the momentum of a five-goal third period on Thursday into their game against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday night.
Toronto entered the third period Thursday trailing the visiting Columbus Blue Jackets 5-0.
The Maple Leafs scored five straight goals in the third period — the final two by Auston Matthews at 18:45 and 19:15 with goaltender Ilya Samsonov removed for an extra attacker — only to lose 6-5 in overtime.
Toronto has earned at least one point in eight consecutive games (5-0-3).
“It doesn’t fall for us early in that second and then the lead starts to grow and now it’s a tough game to play,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “If you’re a player, it’s a tough game to get through that, but again, I think that’s all the more reason why it’s a credit to the group to just regroup in the second intermission and go out and give it what you’ve got, and it turned out to be a fun night.
“We had more than enough looks, but when you gamble a little bit like we did in regulation, you risk giving up that point.”
Toronto was coming off a 4-3 overtime loss to the New York Islanders on Monday and a 7-3 win over the New York Rangers on Tuesday,
“Obviously, Columbus deserves two points,” Keefe said, “so us losing the second point is probably an appropriate result based on the way the game went, but I loved the fight and spirit of our group.”
Pittsburgh is coming off an unusual game, as well.
The Penguins defeated the host Montreal Canadiens 4-3 on Wednesday. Jansen Harkins scored the decisive goal in the 12th round of a shootout to give the Penguins back-to-back wins, following a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday.
“It’s always fun once (the shootout) starts going,” Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson said. “Guys on the bench are starting to panic a little bit and hoping for a goal for us, so it kind of ends so they don’t get picked. But at the same time, it’s one of those things that guys get opportunities to take a penalty shot that otherwise they might have not, and (Wednesday, Harkins) scored a goal for us.”
Sidney Crosby had two goals and an assist to tie Mark Recchi for 13th on the NHL all-time scoring list with 1,533 points (566 goals, 967 assists) after passing Paul Coffey (1,531).
“It goes by really quick, but to be in company with (Recchi), having played with him, having watched him here,” Crosby said. “I know the kind of career he had, and how good he was, and how consistent he was. So, it’s definitely a compliment to be in company with him.”
Toronto lost forward Ryan Reaves (lower-body injury) in the first period Thursday and he did not return.
The Maple Leafs’ comeback cannot hide their defensive lapses and Samsonov’s mediocre goaltending Thursday.
“A lot of what went on is not acceptable,” Keefe said. “But we remain positive just knowing in a lot of ways it wasn’t really our night. The guys went out and at least gave it a valiant effort toward making it our night and get a very important point out of it.”
–Field Level Media
