First Period

Penguins open with a lot of zone time but zero Shots on Goal for the first four and a half minutes. The Leafs defence looks overwhelmed by anything but shot blocking.

Leafs finally get near the Penguins' net, or rather the Matthews line do, but it's not a goal.

Michael Bunting gets dumped on his butt, and Simon Benoit goes to the box for two.

So, yeah, the Penguins have a very good power play, and they get a lot of good shots. The broadcast wants me to know once again it's Erik Karlsson stopping all those forwards from scoring. Or Kris Letang, whichever.

The Leafs PK is definitely not the reason.

For fun, Ilya Lyubushkin somewhat accidentally boards Reilly Smith when he changes direction. More chance to learn how the defender stops the forwards from scoring.

Samsonov stops Sidney Crosby from scoring and loses his stick.

Connor Dewar and David Kämpf get a breakaway and Dewar shoots in the general direction of the corner, not of the net – of the ice.

Leafs, er, the Matthews line with some nice zone time.

Rickard Rakell gets the opening goal:

1-0 Pittsburgh

Matthews with a nice chance as the period winds down followed by Samsonov with a nice save on Bunting and Rakell.

Thoughts

Benoit has not been very good since his return to the lineup. I'm down on him and Dewar right now.

Leafs with the slight edge after a poor start:

Unless you count the power plays:

Second Period

The Matthews line again just dominates in the offensive zone.

Leafs with a second, very long offensive zone set of shifts against one line.

Knies!

Tie Game!

Michael Bunting tries hugging Max Domi after the whistle. Actually on the replay, Domi started the hugging.

Penguins with another power play as Nylander gets done for holding.

Samsonov doing all the work on the PK again.

Marner is stopped on a shorty breakaway, and Rakell goes off for slashing. Should that be a penalty shot? Likely.

Leafs struggle to get setup, and the first shot is Marner on a breakaway again, but no joy.

Samsonov has to make two saves, and the Leafs take a penalty defending old man Jeff Carter.

Once the four-on-four is over the Leafs PK is pretty good.

Jake McCabe goes off for interference, and Crosby's knee hits the post on the play.

Sammy is swimming, but he prevails. More Sammy excellence follows.

Refs whistle the play dead when Crosby is hit with something. Maybe McMann's stick. Crosby was also potentially hit with the puck, so the four minute call is under review.

The refs say no penalty at all, but the Sportsnet video sure looks like a high stick. There is no blood, though, so they called it a four-minute to get the review.

Leafs catch a break there.

Eh... maybe the stick didn't hit him? I don't know for sure.

Wow, now Crosby smashes into Matthews, and the whistle goes again. Not a penalty call, just a Matthews is bigger moment.

Thoughts

I've been picking on Dewar, so I should say he's been very good on the PK. Marner is not playing PK very much, and that could be managing minutes or keeping him away from shot blocking.

That was the same as the first: fairly even at five-on-five and the Penguins with a big advantage on the power play in both minutes and shots. But not goals.

Third Period

Penguins take a penalty early when Karlsson dumps Nylander.

65!

2-1 Leafs

Full disclosure: USA-Canada is zero all, 20 shots all, and 10 minutes to go in the third. That game is taking most of my attention.

Crosby looks like he's playing every other shift in an effort to get this game tied.

Mark Giordano gets away with a trip on Karlsson.

Penguins tie it up with just over six minutes to go.

Tie Game

Lost a board battle, Samsonov can't quite save it. McCabe let O'Connor get in behind Samsonov.

And at exactly the same time USA wins in OT. Boooooo. Low stakes in this game, it just determines 1-2 and who they play in the quarterfinals. But still! Boooooo.

Back to the irritating Leafs.

Oh, good more overtime.

Thoughts

If wanting it got you it the Penguins would have it.

Overtime

Nylander with a nice chance to prevent a shootout, but no luck.

Jake McCabe! Defender goal, and a beautiful way to crush the dreams of the Penguins and not have a shootout.

Player of the game. Maybe the season.

Game Coverage