Leafs Get Revenge, Pens Lose 1-0.

Main Storylines:

- The Pens head to Toronto on an 8 game winning streak, including a wild 3 goal come from behind victory last night at home against the Maple Leafs

- The team claimed Coyotes forward Cal O’Reilly off of re-entry waivers today.  O’Reilly has 40 points and 12 pim in 107 career games.  He will be a restricted free agent after the season and only costs the Pens about $200k for the rest of this season.

- Lineup Changes – Lovejoy in for Engelland and Johnson finally gets a start.  Johnson has been pulled in his last 2 starts.

Result:

Leafs 1  Pens 0

Goals:  none

The Good:

- The defense improved drastically in 24 hours, only allowing 24 shots on Johnson and playing far more composed against the Leafs

Brent Johnson – Though the goal he allowed was certainly ugly and he was out of position, he made some stellar saves throughout the game and had his best outing of the season at a time when no one was sure what to expect

Johnson's only mistake turned out to be enough for the Leafs.

Matt Niskanen – Niskanen brought his physical game for this matchup, blocking 4 shots and registering 3 hits as well.  He showed a massive improvement over last night in his patience in leaving the defensive zone.

Ben Lovejoy – After sitting out the last 5 games, Lovejoy looked fresh and like he hadn’t missed a step at all.  He kept up well with Toronto’s speed, and was there to save Brent Johnson by batting away a puck in the crease (after he turned it over, mind you).  Lovejoy proved to be a nice luxury to have for this game.

The Bad:

- The Pens end their winning streak at 8 and actually let Toronto gain a point on them over the home and home series.

- The refs had their influence again in this game, good and bad.  They properly called off a goal where Kunitz kicked in the puck.  But they also missed Kessel high-sticking Letang, which would have been a 4 minute double minor, and they also called the puck frozen when Reimer didn’t have it covered.  Looks like yesterday’s karma fixed itself immediately.

Eh, he was probably like that before.

- Luck:  the Pens simply didn’t have it tonight.  3 shots clanged off the post and the bounces just weren’t working for them.

The Ugly:

- Shooting accuracy:  The Pens missed on 14 shots in the first period alone and finished the game with 23 missed shots (compared to 25 on net).  The Leafs also blocked 13 shots, turning the conversion rate into 25 shots on net with 61 attempted.

- The only goal in the game was scored on another defensive lapse by the 1^st line as Neal got caught in no man’s land in the slot and Kunitz didn’t follow McArthur to the crease.  It did not help that Johnson went out of the net to cut McArthur off for no reason.

Ditto to whatever profanity Orpik is yelling.

Thoughts:

- Give the Penguins PK a lot of credit right now.  Toronto has a dangerous powerplay, and the Pens held them off the board in both games.  Most importantly, they are doing all of this without Jordan Staal, who we all know is usually a big key to that PK.

- While a team like Toronto looks inferior to Pittsburgh in the standings and in terms of talent, they are the type of team that could give the Penguins fits in the playoffs.  Their speed and aggressiveness is matched by very few teams in the NHL, and the Pens were forced to change their game to adjust rather than play their own game.  That style hurt the Leafs in the 1^st game, but clearly worked in the 2^nd game.  This isn’t a matchup I’d want to see in a best of 7 where bounces may determine the series.

- The Pens blocked 22 shots in front of Brent Johnson, putting together a much better effort than last night in front of Fleury.  Despite the loss hopefully the confidence boost for Johnson will go a long way towards the playoff run as the Pens see back to back games the next 3 weekends.

Pens Record: 29-18-4, 62 pts, 3^rd in the Atlantic, 5^th in the East

Next Game:  2/4 @ Bos, 1pm