Pens Initiative

Saturday Night the Penguins faced off against the Toronto Maple Leafs. James Reimer managed to make 38 saves as he lead the Leafs to a 4-1 victory in Toronto.

The first period was a tough exchange for who could get the most penalties. For the most part back and forth. There were also goals. The first was scored by Pittsburgh when Pittsburgh's fan favorite Kris Letang buried a snapshot behind Toronto net minder James Reimer. An assist would go to Evgeni Malkin.

Letang has more goals than Claude Giroux already LOLZ

Almost 10 minutes later, poster boy Kris Letang with hopes of evening out his +/-  gave gave the puck to Dion Phaneuf who made a pretty sweet pass to Dave Bolland who launched a slap shot behind Flower who was a fair distance out of his crease. That wasn't it for the action though. Shortly before end of the first period David Clarkson of the Toronto Maple Leafs drilled  Rob Scuderi into the boards who would need help getting back to the dressing room and did not return to the game. HCDB said that it was a lower body injury and scuds would be reevaluated on Sunday.



The Second period was a much different story. Though Fleury was not busy, the Penguins were getting a lot of action on Reimer who was not letting any of the 16 shots on net get buy him. That was not the same at the other end. The Leafs only managed to register 4 shots on Flower. To his credit, he saved all of them and the score of 1-1 would be carried over into the 3rd period.

The third period again was a different story. This time, not for the good. My arch enemy Nazem Kadri put the Leafs ahead 2-1 with a goal within the first two minutes of the 3rd period. The Leafs managed to control the game for the most part up until Phil Kessel scored a powerplay goal 17:05 seconds into the third. The game was not over as the leafs scored a open netter to end the game 4-1.

NOTES

This was only Sidney Crosbys second game of the season where he was help pointless.

Marc Andre Fleury ended the night with 26 saves.

The Penguins controlled the majority of the game until the third when they only registered 7 shots on goal.

Crosby ended the game with %40 wining percentage on faceoffs.

Kris Letang had 5 giveaways.

Did I mention Letang has more goals than Giroux?

Dion Phanneuouffe has a hilarious forehead.

OTHER THOUGHTS 

Speaking of Letang, though he could be undoubtedly blamed for the Leafs first and final goal (which was on an empty net when the game was arguably over) to blame him for the entire loss is a bit foolish. This was a team loss. Evgeni Malkin was responsible for a goal after giving the puck away and he took a bad penalty which resulted in a goal against. I don't feel this loss was on Geno either. Sid didn't have a great night either in the faceoff circle or in most aspects of his game. This was a team loss, not a "LETANG SUCKS" loss. We need to remember that this was Letangs 2nd game of the season and he is trying to get chemistry with Scuds who went down and we are not sure when he will return. He then was paired for the most part with Maatta. I think any pens fan will tell you that having two offensive dmen together is bad news, especiallly when you are hoping that Maatta will be able to support Letang. There were times where Letang showed great offense, pinched the point well several times and showed great patience with the puck. I realize there are a lot of people who are not a fan of Tangers game but he is better to have then to play against. Another plus is he scored our only goal. I realize him giving out free pucks to the opposing team is a bad thing, but that can be fixed. You can't always teach a player to have his speed, vision and overall ability.. #HatersGonnaHate

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