Music: {allcanada} Penguins, down three goals, rally past Maple Leafs

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

{allcanada} Penguins, down three goals, rally past Maple Leafs

PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Penguins rallied from a three-goal deficit in the second period and beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 6-5 in a shootout Wednesday night.

Sidney Crosby put the Penguins ahead in the second round of the tiebreaker when he carried the puck slowly toward Toronto's net and goaltender Jonathan Bernier missed on a poke check, allowing Crosby to slide the puck past him. Evgeni Malkin ended the game by wristing a shot over Bernier's pad.

Rookie Jeff Zatkoff, who replaced Marc-Andre Fleury 13 seconds into the second period, stopped Tyler Bozak and David Clarkson in the shootout.

Pittsburgh trailed 5-3 after two periods, but the Penguins pulled even with two goals in the first 7:41 of the third.

With Jerred Smithson and James van Riemsdyk in the penalty box, Malkin controlled the puck and slid a pass to a wide-open James Neal open in the right circle. Neal snapped a shot past Bernier at 3:46 to make it a one-goal game.

Malkin tied it 3:55 later with his second of the game. He and Crosby converged on the puck in Toronto's crease and Malkin jabbed Bernier's right pad back to give him enough room to poke the puck over the goal line.

The Penguins outshot the Maple Leafs 48-24, including 17-0 in the third period and 2-0 in overtime.

Van Riemsdyk's second goal of the game sent Fleury to the bench and gave Toronto a 3-1 lead. Fleury retrieved the puck behind his net and attempted to send it to Jayson Megna, but van Riemsdyk picked off the pass and scored into an open net 13 seconds into the middle period.

Fleury, who allowed three goals on 11 shots, entered the game with a 3.15 goals-against average in 26 games against Toronto, his second-worst against any team he has faced in at least 20 games behind the Ottawa Senators. He was replaced by Zatkoff, who surrendered a goal 29 seconds later. Bozak knocked Kris Letang off the puck in Pittsburgh's zone and fed Phil Kessel, who fired a one-timer past a diving Zatkoff to make it 4-1.

Malkin and Letang scored to cut the deficit to one with 4:40 remaining in the period, but the 18,660 in attendance for the Penguins' 300th consecutive sellout voiced their displeasure after the Maple Leafs regained their two-goal lead with 4.3 seconds left. Brooks Orpik turned the puck over in the neutral zone and van Riemsdyk's shot dribbled off Zatkoff's left pad to Bozak, who tapped it in to put Toronto up 5-3 entering the third period.

The Penguins recorded the game's first eight shots and took a 1-0 lead 1:57 into the game when Chris Conner buried a cross-crease feed from Andrew Ebbett for his first goal in his return to the Penguins.

Pittsburgh finished the period with a 17-10 shot advantage, but the Maple Leafs controlled much of the action after the first five minutes.

Simon Despres was called for interference at 5:01 and van Riemsdyk tipped Dion Phaneuf's slap shot past Fleury eight seconds into the power play to tie the game. Nazem Kadri scored off a 3-on-1 break at 11:41 to put Toronto ahead.

White Christmas