Penguins at Maple Leafs
The Pittsburgh Penguins have won six straight games and are proving that they can score in bunches even without reigning Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin on the ice. The Penguins will try to continue their winning ways on Thursday when they visit the Toronto Maple Leafs. Chris Kunitz has become just as big a threat as Malkin or captain Sidney Crosby and ran his goal total to 18 in Tuesday’s thrilling 3-2 victory over Boston.
The Maple Leafs extended Pittsburgh to a shootout at home on Saturday but are mired in a season-high three-game winless streak (0-2-1) after dropping a 5-2 decision at Winnipeg on Tuesday. Toronto has allowed at least four goals in each of its last four games and six of seven. Goaltender James Reimer was lifted after yielding the first four goals in Tuesday’s setback and was in net for the 5-4 shootout loss to the Penguins on Saturday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ROOT (Pittsburgh), RDS (Toronto)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (19-8-0): Malkin suffered the upper-body injury that will sideline him for 1-2 weeks late in the win over Toronto on Saturday and did not appear in overtime or the shootout. James Neal and Crosby finished off that win with shootout goals and Kunitz stepped up with three goals and two assists in Sunday’s win over the Islanders. It was not until Tuesday that Pittsburgh appeared to miss Malkin, when it failed to get on the board for the first 53-plus minutes. The Penguins erased a two-goal deficit with tallies by Kunitz and Brandon Sutter 51 seconds apart and shocked the Bruins. Sutter added the go-ahead goal just over three minutes later. Pittsburgh has scored at least three goals in each of the last six games, but has only won once in that span by more than one tally.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (15-11-1): Reimer and Ben Scrivens have both struggled in goal for Toronto, wasting some of the efforts of Phil Kessel and the offense. Kessel scored both goals in the 5-2 loss to Winnipeg on Tuesday and has multiple points in three of the last four contests - including a goal and two assists in Saturday’s loss to Pittsburgh. Kessel could be getting some help soon from Joffrey Lupul, who took part in practice on Wednesday for the first time since breaking his forearm against the Penguins on Jan. 23. The Maple Leafs have three straight home games to get things straightened out in net. They would also be best served to tighten up a defense that has allowed an average of 34.3 shots in the last seven games.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh D Kris Letang has recorded at least one assist in six straight games. He has totaled 12 in that span.
2. Maple Leafs D Mark Fraser was plus-16 over his first 18 games, but is minus-1 over his last six.
3. Crosby has 38 points (19 goals, 19 assists) in 24 career games against Toronto.