Penguins lose to Leafs in shootout
PITTSBURGH – P.A. Parenteau and Peter Holland scored in the shootout to help the Toronto Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 on Wednesday night.
Parenteau won it by beating Matt Murray to the glove side with a wrist shot.
David Perron scored for Pittsburgh in the shootout, but Jonathan Bernier stopped Sidney Crosby and Kris Letang. Bernier finished with 39 saves while playing for the second consecutive night.
Dion Phaneuf and Jake Gardiner both scored, and the Maple Leafs rebounded from a 6-3 home loss to the New York Islanders on Tuesday night. Toronto was 0-6-2 in the second game of back-to-backs prior to this win.
Crosby scored his eighth and Chris Kunitz his fifth, and Murray made 34 saves for Pittsburgh.
The Penguins fell to 2-5-1 since hiring Mike Sullivan to replace Mike Johnston as head coach. Pittsburgh lost to the Maple Leafs for the first time in seven games and dropped their second straight overall.
James Reimer was supposed to start in goal, but he experienced tightness after relieving Bernier in the blowout against the Islanders. That was Reimer’s first action since missing seven games with a groin injury.
Pittsburgh hit Bernier with 20 second-period shots but were stilled tied 2-2 after 40 minutes. Murray, meanwhile stopped three breakaways and several quality short-handed opportunities during a power play in the third period.
Evgeni Malkin hit the post to the right of Bernier on a late third-period power play.
Letang returned after missing a game Sunday against Winnipeg. Letang has a history of head injuries and was placed in concussion protocol after leaving Saturday night following a hit from Minnesota Wild forward Jarret Stoll. He had missed the previous six games with an upper-body injury and nine of the prior 11.
Letang took a hard hit into the end boards from Leo Komarov, and the forward was assessed a boarding penalty on the play. Letang briefly left the game, but later returned.
The teams opened the game with first-period goals scored 1:34 apart.
Phaneuf sent a slap shot from the point past a screened Murray and Kunitz scored on the power play for Pittsburgh. Malkin started the play with a cross-ice pass to Crosby, who sent it to Kunitz for an easy tip-in at the far post.
The teams scored in a span of 3:32 early in the second period.
Toronto jumped in front 1:13 into the period when James van Riemsdyk’s harmless-looking shot from the top of the circle deflected off Brian Dumoulin’s stick and Gardiner’s glove before going past Murray.
Crosby snapped a sharp wrist shot over Bernier’s glove and underneath the cross bar during a 2-on-1, tying the game soon after.
Notes: Penguins’ goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is practicing and ‘making progress’ in his recovery from a concussion. He hasn’t played since Dec. 14. … The Maple Leafs recalled Mark Arcobello for Byron Froese, who sustained a lower-body injury on Tuesday. … Pittsburgh plays Thursday night at Detroit. Toronto hosts St. Louis before a three-game West Coast swing.