Penguins 6, Maple Leafs 4

This one started off great for the Pens. Christensen took a face off win by Adam Hall and blasted it high on the stick side of Toskala. Great goal, though it was annoying listening to Steigy and Errey falling all over themselves gushing about how great it is to have a right-handed face off man (Hall).

Shortly after that, the urge to put Mike Lagne back on returned, as Steigy had no sooner said "Tucker is looking for his first goal of the year" than Tucker scored. Ugh.

The Pens went on to give up the next two goals to fall behind by a 3-1 deficit. Sabourin started, but was run over by Tucker, and was replaced by Fleury.

The Pens started their comeback on Crosby's first goal of the year. It was a bit of luck in that it deflected off of the defensemen in front.

Talbot kept things going with a great individual effort and Malone tied the game.

I thought things were going to go south when the Leafs tied it at 4 on a goal by Jason Blake. I guess we're all supposed to talk about how wonderful Jason is now that he has a form of leukemia, but I still remember his friendly little slash on Crosby last year, and the fact that he's a point-per-game guy when playing the Pens. I'm glad it appears that he'll be okay from the cancer, but when he's on the ice, I don't like him.

Going to the third, the score was tied, and it remained that way until there was about 5:00 left in the game. Along the way in the third, the Pens had about 58 power play chances and couldn't cash in, but Sid cleaned up the garbage behind Toskala on the Pens 6th power play chance of the game. Talbot added an empty net goal (short-handed, no less) to seal the deal.

The Pens had 52 shots on goal tonight. They absolutely peppered Toskala, who has a save percentage over 90% despite giving up 5 goals. Talbot, Sykora, Malkin and Staal all had 5 or more shots. Malkin could have had about 3-4 more, except that he passed the puck. I think Jay Caufield was right after the game in saying that it wasn't all the Pens - it was also the Leafs shoddy defense in their own end.

Malone and Gonchar both stood out tonight - Sergei for his solid play in his own end and Malone for his hard work (he drew two penalties). Fleury also played really well when the Pens needed him most.

Next up: Wednesday at the Igloo versus the Devils