TORONTO — The preceding game was not suitable for all audiences.
As the Toronto Maple Leafs moved the Tuesday start time to 4 p.m. against the Pittsburgh Penguins to hold a Next Gen kids’ game, many of the mistakes should have been witnessed by impressionable children who might themselves play hockey.
Egregious Penguins (15-12-9) errors yielded a trio of breakaway goals, though Toronto (16-15-5) was only slightly better, beating the Penguins 6-3 at Scotiabank Arena Tuesday.
The final Penguins gaffe belonged to defenseman Brett Kulak, who was turned inside out by Toronto forward Max Domi for a short breakaway goal and game-winner at 11:35 of the third period.
The Penguins were fresh from slaying their eight-game winless streak, battling the specter of an exhale sort of letdown against a team that has handed them some of the worst headlines of the last few seasons.
The Penguins’ second period certainly earned a few bad headlines as they inexplicably passed up good shots and yielded a candidate for ugliest goal of the season. Or decade.
Defenseman Erik Karlsson walked the offensive blue line, toying with the puck and fourth-line grinder Steven Lorentz. However, after a few stickhandles, Lorentz stole the puck, and Karlsson fell to the ice as Lorentz raced for a long breakaway.
Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner made the first save, but Lorentz (4) had time to stop and whack at the rebound … and whack again at the rebound, putting his third chance into the net before any Penguins defender was close at 7:38 of the second period.
Penguins rookie Rutger McGroarty was one of the team’s best Tuesday. With a good rush, a steal, and a backcheck, McGoarty kept the puck in the offensive zone before burying a heavy wrist shot over Toronto goalie Joseph Woll at 11:43.
The Penguins were the better team in the first period Tuesday, but the hockey gods wrapped a box of bad luck and a 2-1 deficit.
After a shift with heavy offensive pressure spearheaded by center Kevin Hayes, Toronto earned the first goal of the game when William Nylander intercepted Hayes’s pass at the blue line. Nylander (12) had a clean breakaway and beat Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner with a backhand move at 9:07.
The Penguins tied the game 44 seconds later when Sidney Crosby notched point 1725 by springing Bryan Rust (13) for his own breakaway goal at 9:51.
However, a few minutes later, Toronto was gifted a goal as Mattias Macelli (5) chipped the puck toward the slot, but Penguins defenseman Parker Wotherspoon fanned on his clearing attempt away from the slot and redirected it into the Penguins’ net at 13:34.
Hockey fans would have been justified had they been watching through their fingers.
The other bit of bad luck in the first period was yet another overturned Penguins goal at 7:26 of the first period. Woll reached to cover the puck with his blocker hand, and Penguins winger Justin Brazeau swatted Woll’s hand and puck across the goal line.
Referees initially awarded Brazeau a goal, but Toronto challenged, and the marker was overturned.
The Penguins are winless since 2022 in the building and now 0-4-1 in their last four at Scotiabank Arena, also including mothballing a 3-0 third period lead in a 4-3 regulation loss on Nov. 3.
Woll 29 of 32 in the Toronto win.
Skinner was solid in the Penguins’ net, allowing only breakaway goals and his own defenseman to score. Skinner shut down an extended three-on-one early in the third period, in which one Penguins player fell near the bench, and others were slow to the defensive zone. He stopped 25 of 29 shots.
Bobby McMann (10) had a breakaway for the first empty-netter.
Nylander (13) scored the second EN.
It was the final game before the NHL’s holiday break. The Penguins’ next game is Dec. 28 in Chicago.
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Categorized: Penguins Postgame