Penguins lose in shootout, fall to Maple Leafs

In their final home game of the year at Consol Energy Enter, the Pittsburgh Penguins failed to outshoot the Toronto Maple Leafs in an overtime shootout to take a 3-2 loss.

It would be Dion Phaneuf who wide strike first in the game, scoring for the Maple Leafs to make the score 1-0 in the third minute of the game. Fortunately, just minutes later Chris Kunitz would answer right back on a power play goal to even it back up.

From then on out, the game started to be one of the most aggressive of the season for the Penguins, as hit after hit kept coming from both sides. Evgeni Malkin would be the first to step up for his team, getting into an altercation Phaneuf.

Malkin and Phaneuf don’t have quite the best history together, so it’s no surprise that they were the ones to start it all. Malkin would go to the box for hooking Phaneuf prior to the altercation.

The Maple Leafs would answer back, but in a unprofessional fashion, with a cheap shot on Kris Letang into the boards from Leo Komarov. The hit, which should’ve been an immediate ejection, only received a two minute minor. Many fans are wondering when the NHL is going to step up and start protecting their players.

Luckily for the Penguins, goalie for the night Matt Murray was able to step up and make clutch saves when it mattered, and you could here the fans at Consol shouting “Murray! Murray!” for the first time. He would even go on to make a pair of saves in the third period on a breakaway opportunity from the Leafs that would earn him a standing ovation.

Even the best goalies can’t stop every shot though, and Murray would give up his second of the night to defenseman Jake Gardiner at the beginning of the second period. Once again the Penguins offense would step up, and score another game tieing goal, this one coming from the man himself Sidney Crosby, his eighth of the season.