NHL Game Recap: Bunting Scores Go-Ahead Goal, Powers Penguins Past Maple Leafs

Pittsburgh Penguins celebrating a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs

The Pittsburgh Penguins skated to victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday, December 7th, defeating them 5-2 after they had lost 4-2 to the New York Rangers on Friday. Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell both recorded a goal and an assist, boosting the Penguins to defeat the Maple Leafs. The Penguins’ hard work and incredible performance led to victory, which we hope to see repeated. Michael Bunting scored the go-ahead goal in the third period, and for Toronto, both Mitch Marner and William Nylander scored. The Penguins host the Colorado Avalanche next, and the Maple Leafs head out to New Jersey to take on the Devils, both on Tuesday.

Pittsburgh Penguins Lineup:

Rakell – Crosby – Rust

O’Connor – Malkin – Glass

Bunting – Lizotte – Puljujarvi

Hayes – Acciari – Beauvillier

Pickering – Letang

Pettersson – Karlsson

Graves – Grzelcyk

Jarry

Nedeljkovic

Toronto Maple Leafs Lineup:

Pacioretty – Matthews – Marner

Knies – Tavares – Nylander

Holmberg – Minten – Nylander

Lorentz – Dewar – Reaves

Rielly – Myers

Ekman-Larsson – Tanev

Benoit – Timmins

Woll

Stolarz

Rickard Rakell put the Penguins in the lead early at 15:21 of the first period on the power play right off the face-off when there had been some passing back and forth until Matt Grzelcyk struck, and Rakell jumped to deflect Grzelcyk’s point shot for his team-leading 11th goal of the season. Not long after the Pittsburgh goal, Mitch Marner tied it up to 1-1 with his 10th goal of the season when he flicked in the rebound of Oliver Ekman-Larsson’s shot, who received the puck from Auston Matthews, as he was being pushed to the ice by Marcus Pettersson just outside the crease. Bryan Rust struck with just 5:45 remaining in the opening frame to put the Penguins back in front 2-1 after a shot from Sidney Crosby had bounced back off the end boards, and Rust fired a one-timer past Joseph Woll from the right face-off circle.

Knotting the game 2-2 with his 17th goal of the season, William Nylander scored on a one-timer on the power play early into the middle frame at 17:28 when Mitch Marner had the puck, sending it to Auston Matthews, who shot but was unable to find the back of the net, so he sent it back to Marner after grabbing ahold of the puck. Marner set up Nylander for the Maple Leafs power-play goal.

Michael Bunting struck the go-ahead goal early in the third with 14:27 on the clock after some passing back and forth, and Bryan Rust’s shot deflected off Conor Timmins – Bunting got ahold of the puck, quickly scoring on a wrist shot for the 3-2. With a wrister from the slot, Matthew Knies had come close to tying up the game once again, however, it ended up hitting the left post. Later into the third period with an empty Toronto net, Blake Lizotte scored a short-handed empty-netter from the other end to make it 4-2, and then Kris Letang also struck the empty Leafs net short-handed with only 26 seconds left in regulation for the 5-2 final.

Tristan Jarry on the empty net goals, being comfortable in the third, the third period overall, and his past four starts being wins: “It’s huge and I think it takes a lot of pressure off of us when we’re able to get those empty-netters. I think that kind of helps our game at the end there, it gives us a little bit of confidence, especially when they do go in like that,” – “I think that it was just the team doing a great job there, pushing shots to the outside. They were giving me all the shots that I needed to see, and they were really helping out a lot in front of the net. When we’re battling down low like that and we’re taking guys, it speaks a lot about our game, and it makes the game a lot easier for me. …It’s definitely easier playing with the lead. I think that the more games that we get into with situations like that we’re getting more and more comfortable, and I think just being able to close out those games helps a lot, helps us with our confidence, and to gain those empty nets, I think goes a long way. – I think it’s just about being better every day. I said that at the beginning when things weren’t going very well for me that I just wanted to be better. I think being able to string together a couple of wins really helps with confidence, and I think it really helps the team. In the end, this is a team game and we all want two points.”

Mitch Marner on Max Pacioretty being on his line, lack of secondary scoring/if it worries him, and Matthew Knies’ attempt to tie it up: “I thought it was good. I thought we were moving our feet well, created o-zone time, and made some good plays around the net, and throughout the zones. …I’m not worried. Like we talked about before, man, we’re still missing a lot of guys. It’s a tough league. I thought these young guys have done a great job of moving their feet, getting up the ice, you know, creating offense, but like I spoke about before, it’s tough to score, they’re doing their best, and it will come. So, my thing to them is just stay patient with it, don’t force anything, let it come. A lot of skill that they have, and they look great,” – “Kniesy at the end – I think it hit the post, and that’s the way it goes, sometimes bounces don’t go your way, you know, just got to clean the slate, now we got to clean up the penalties, and be ready for New Jersey.”

Notes:

– Tristan Jarry made a total of 25 saves for Pittsburgh.

– With his assist on Bryan Rust’s goal, Sidney Crosby picked up his 1,023rd assist in the NHL. He ties Gordie Howe – 1,023 with the Detroit Red Wings – for the fifth most for one team.

– Both Bryan Rust and Rickard Rakell recorded a goal and an assist.

– The Penguins played without Philip Tomasino due to an upper-body injury he sustained on Friday against the New York Rangers.

– The Penguins scored at least two power-play goals and shorthanded goals in the same game for the first time since October 21st, 2006.

– Head Coach Mike Sullivan coached his 700th game for the Penguins, and is 387-232-81 since being hired on December 12th, 2015.

– Joseph Woll made a total of 24 saves for Toronto.

– Mitch Marner recorded a goal and an assist, and Auston Matthews picked up two assists. …Marner has nine goals in the past 16 games after he had scored just one in his first 11.

– Max Pacioretty had been called for two penalties, one shot on goal, and one hit in 14:34 of ice time in his return from missing the previous ten games due to a lower-body injury. 600