In Pittsburgh Saturday, Frederik Andersen made 31 saves to blank the Penguins in a 5-0 win for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Leafs moved to 9-5-0 and won for the first time since they lost Auston Matthews to an injury.
“It’s a tough building against a really good team,” Andersen said. “It’s an extra bonus and I’m happy with the win. Get back on track here. … We have to build on it. We have to start stringing them together again. Hopefully this will be a good lesson for us to see how good we can come out.”
Frederik Andersen made 31 saves to blank Penguins – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
Morgan Rielly struck for two goals in the win.
“We lost a couple and we thought we were going in the right direction the last game. We didn’t get rewarded. We just stuck with it and were determined tonight,” Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said. “In the end, found a way to win a game. … What I like to do is just be steady on the rudder. The season always has these ebbs and flows. You enjoy it when it’s going good, and you enjoy the duress when it’s not.”
John Tavares, Patrick Marleau and Zach Hyman also scored for Toronto.
“We expected them to come hard. We didn’t play well. … I think they played faster. I think we’re capable of playing faster, but I think they did a better job of it. … We got beat tonight. That’s the bottom line. I don’t think it’s because we’re not fast enough. We’re more than fast enough,” Sidney Crosby said after the loss.
The Penguins dropped to 6-3-3 and have lost three straight.
“The reality is the NHL season is a long season,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “There’s lots of ups and downs. You win a few games in a row and you feel good about yourself. This league has a funny way of humbling you. Right now, I think we’ve been humbled. We didn’t deserve to win tonight.”
[WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Penguins highlights]
Matt Murray made 26 saves for the loss; he left the game in the middle of the second period for a broken skate blade.
“I don’t think we’ve been at our best, for sure,” Murray said. “It’s stuff that’s easily correctible, I think, so we just have to focus on our game.”
Casey DeSmith made two saves in his net time.
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