Kessel’s league-leading 10th goal gives Maple Leafs 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh
Posted October 29, 2011 9:49 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Phil Kessel picked an opportune time to score his league-leading 10th goal for the red-hot Toronto Maple Leafs.
The puck barely touched his stick before he fired a shot past Brent Johnson at 10:08 of the third period Saturday as the Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3.
Kessel and Pittsburgh’s James Neal entered the evening tied for the NHL lead in goals. The Leafs sniper edged ahead shortly after the Penguins erased their third one-goal deficit of the game and goaltender Jonas Gustavsson made sure it stood up by stacking his pads on a great opportunity by Neal with less than five minutes to play.
Mikhail Grabovski, Tim Connolly and Clarke MacArthur also had goals for Toronto (7-2-1), which visits the rival Ottawa Senators on Sunday night.
Matt Cooke, Chris Kunitz and Evgeni Malkin replied for the weary Penguins (8-3-2).
Not only were they playing for the 13th time in 26 days, they had to do so without a number of top players. Jordan Staal is sidelined with an undisclosed lower-body injury, Sidney Crosby continues to recover from a concussion and No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury watched from the bench while Johnson made his fourth appearance of the season.
Malkin, the only Penguins star on the ice, had a tough start to the night.
He was in the penalty box for Toronto’s first two goals. Grabovski tipped home a Dion Phaneuf point shot at 11:31 of the first period before Connolly knocked home a rebound for his first goal as a member of the Leafs. That came at 11:30 of the second period and made it 2-1.
The lead was short-lived as Kunitz capitalized on a Penguins power play to tie the game at 15:06.
MacArthur’s second goal of the season put Toronto ahead 3-2 at 3:08 of the third period before Malkin tied it with a one-timer during a 5-on-3 man advantage at 7:59.
Gustavsson was given his third straight start in place of injured starter James Reimer, who is experiencing whiplash-like symptoms. He had a strong night — making a five-alarm save on Steve Sullivan in the first period before shutting the door in the dying minutes — and picked up wins in consecutive appearances for the first time since March 2010.
