They came, they fought, they conquered. The Pittsburgh Penguins beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 2-1 on Saturday night. While the game had a late start with no one scoring until the second period. Pascal Dupuis and Thomas Greiss stepped up to the plate helping the Penguins achieve their victory.
Dupuis had eight shots on goal in the game. Two of those were successful goals. The first came with 2:42 left in the 2nd period making the lead 1-0. It was assisted by Christian Ehrhoff and Brandon Sutter. His second came in the third assisted by Sidney Crosby and Robert Bortuzzo.
Penguins head coach Johnston had switched up the Penguins’ lines, with Dupuis replacing Patric Hornqvist on the line with Crosby and Chris Kunitz.
“I thought it was a real character win,” said Johnston.
Greiss was the other star of the game. He took the night by storm making 30 saves. He let one goal go through by Toronto Maple Leafs Cody Franson with a snapshot in the third making it 2-1. That was all they Leafs could manage, and the Penguins pulled off the win. The Penguins also killed all six Leafs power plays.
During the third period, Sutter was hit with a puck that was deflected in front of the Pens net. He skated off the ice on his own holding his ear and never returned to the game.
“It looks like he’s okay,” Coach Johnston said about Sutter’s condition, “He got a cut on the ear. They put a few stitches in. Most of the blow of the puck hit him in the helmet. I think he should be fine.”
Evgeni Malkin also left a mark on the game as he came to teammate Hornqvist’s defense. Dion Phaneuf destroyed Hornqvist with a big hit in the neutral zone. Malkin immediately went after Phaneuf and ended up getting a penalty for roughing.
Crosby came to Malkin’s defense in a post game interview: ”Good on him for sticking up for a teammate. We stick together. And we got a huge kill there to finish the game.”
The Penguins ended their road trip with a 4-1 record. They will play Saturday at home against the Rangers.
