Dave Bolland had two goals and James Reimer stopped 37 shots to lead the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 4-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at Air Canada Centre. Bolland tied the game at 1-1 late in the first period with a shorthanded goal and capped Toronto's three-goal third period by hitting the empty net, giving him six goals in 12 games for the Maple Leafs (8-4-0).
"I look at it in [Bolland] that he's been
everything that we've asked because a player that you can move up and
down your lineup, he plays and practices at a very high pace,"
Maple Leafs coach Randy Carlyle said.
The Penguins opened the scoring at 6:52 of the
first period on the power play when Evgeni
Malkin fed Kris
Letang, who beat Reimer through the five-hole for his first of
the season. Pittsburgh got another power-play chance when Carl
Gunnarsson went off for hooking at 14:59, but Bolland tied the
game when he got to the high slot and blasted a high slap shot that
beat Marc-Andre
Fleury at 16:33. The play happened after Reimer made a big save
on Malkin to keep the Penguins from scoring.
"That was a weird play," Reimer
said. "He spun around and a guy down went down to block it
and off him and just tipped to the side. I just tried to get a leg
out. Lucky enough I did, and then the guys fell back and collapsed on
the rebound. Goalie makes the first save and my teammates stepped in
and did the rest."
The period wouldn't end without incident as
Toronto's David
Clarkson hit Pittsburgh defenseman Rob
Scuderi along the boards with 16.8 seconds to play, dropping him
to the ice. Scuderi needed help to the locker room and did not
return. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said he has a lower-body injury and
he'll be reevaluated on Sunday.
"I've seen the replay and ... he just gets
hit shoulder-on-shoulder," Bylsma said. "I don't
know if he got lifted off his feet a little bit and comes down [and
got hurt]. I don't know exactly, it's not really clearly evident by a
big hit or anything in that situation. I don't know exactly what
happened to cause the injury."
The second period saw the Penguins turn up the
pressure outshooting the Maple Leafs 16-4, but Reimer stopped all of
them, including a pair of key leg saves on Pascal
Dupuis.
"You don't win in this League without
goaltending that gives you a chance, and [Reimer] gives us a chance,"
Carlyle said.
Nazem
Kadri put the Maple Leafs ahead for good when he scored his
fourth goal of the season at 1:26 of the third, beating the Penguins'
defense and deking Fleury. Kadri played on the Maple Leafs' first
line with James
van Riemsdyk and Phil
Kessel in place of injured center Tyler
Bozak.
"I don't exactly know how the 3-on-2 came
about, I can't really remember," Kadri said. "It
seemed like a half-ice 3-on-2. [Van Riemsdyk] made a great play and
drove the net. It opened up the top lane to pass to me, and I was
able to make a move at the end."
Kessel's power-play goal at 17:05 provided some
insurance before Bolland hit the empty net. Kessel was wide open at
the far side of the net and van Riemsdyk connected with him on a
no-look backhand pass while being defended heavily in front of
Fleury.
"It's one of those things where I kind of
know a little bit where he's going to be," van Riemsdyk
said. "He's going to find those little soft areas and if I
can get the puck over to him, he's got a pretty big piece of net to
shoot at."
Fleury, who sat out Friday night's 4-3 home loss
to the New York Islanders, finished with 26 saves. NHL scoring leader
Sidney Crosby
was held without a point for only the second time this season. The
Maple Leafs matched up against him with Bolland and team captain Dion
Phaneuf.
"There are tough minutes for him to
accumulate," Carlyle said of Phaneuf. "We think that
he does a heck of a job for our hockey club, or else we wouldn't be
using him in those situations. I know that it seems to be that
there's a love-hate type of relationship at certain times, but
there's a lot of love shown from our part as far as a coaching
staff."
Reimer improved his career record against the
Penguins to 4-0-2.
"They have arguably the best players in
the world, and they bring it every time they come and play,"
Reimer said. "I'm just lucky enough to have teammates step up
and play big games. I don't know if it has much to do with me more
than the guys in front of me working their butts off."
The Maple Leafs hit the road on Tuesday night to
face the Edmonton Oilers. The Penguins will go to Raleigh to face the
Carolina Hurricanes on Monday.
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