Maple Leafs at Penguins
The Toronto Maple Leafs bounced back from an embarrassing loss and look to carry that momentum into Saturday's contest against the host Pittsburgh Penguins. Toronto was trounced 7-0 by Los Angeles on Tuesday and entered the third period of Friday's game against Philadelphia trailing 3-2 before erupting for four goals en route to its fourth victory in five contests.
Defenseman Morgan Rielly recorded two of his career-high four points during the third-period rally as the Maple Leafs completed a 2-1-0 homestand, scoring six goals in each triumph. Pittsburgh will be concluding a three-game homestand of its own as it attempts to rebound from a 4-2 setback against Minnesota on Thursday. Sidney Crosby has been an offensive force since recovering from a concussion, scoring a team-leading nine goals while recording four multi-point performances and notching at least one point in seven of his eight games. The Penguins had gone 6-0-1 both overall and at home before falling to the Wild.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, CBC, CITY (Toronto), ROOT (Pittsburgh)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (6-5-3): Rielly finished Friday's contest - his 250th in the NHL - with a goal, which accounted for his 100th career point, and three assists to raise his season point total to 10. Nazem Kadri (11 points) registered a goal and an assist against the Flyers while Tyler Bozak (10) set up a tally, giving Toronto a total of seven players with double-digit point totals. Kadri has scored four of his team-leading seven goals in his last five games.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (9-3-2): Phil Kessel notched a pair of assists Thursday, increasing his season total to a team-leading 10 and giving him at least one point in seven straight home games. Evgeni Malkin tops the club with 14 points and has recorded at least one in seven of his last eight games. The 30-year-old Russian has registered four two-point performances and been kept off the scoresheet in only four of his 14 contests.
OVERTIME
1. Maple Leafs rookie C Auston Matthews, the first overall pick last June, has tallied just twice in 13 games since recording a four-goal performance in his NHL debut.
2. Pittsburgh LW Tom Sestito was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Wednesday after notching an assist in seven games with the Penguins earlier this season but was a healthy scratch against Minnesota.
3. Toronto went 2-for-5 with the man advantage on Friday and ranks fifth in the league with a 25 percent success rate (10-for-40) on the power play.