In Toronto, the Maple Leafs’ Frederik Andersen made 24 saves and defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-0 on Thursday night.
It was the back end of a home-and-home set that the Leafs opened with a loss in Pittsburgh on Tuesday.
Jake Muzzin had a goal and two assists for the Maple Leafs – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“It was great. We responded the way we wanted to,” Andersen said. “Guys played really good. Jake Muzzin especially, I thought he was unbelievable today. We just stuck with our game for the most part. It was a complete effort and a great response from everyone. That’s what we want to be like.”
Muzzin had a goal and two assists in the win.
“I don’t think we came into this game with a big head or thinking we were better than we are,” the Penguins’ Sidney Crosby said. “I don’t think that was the case. For the most part, we’re a hard-working team and come with the right mentality every night. Tonight we had a good first period but then we give up a goal, take a 5-on-3. Ideally we stop the damage at that and give ourselves a chance to get back in, but it didn’t happen.”
Odd thing to say
Muzzin opened the scoring for a 1-0 lead and William Nylander extended it to 2-0.
“Enjoy tonight, remember what it felt like, the mindset we had coming in and bring it again,” the defenseman said. “We have to be desperate, all points matter coming down the stretch. We did a much better job defensively closing on loose pucks. We had a lot more talking in our own zone as well, which helped exiting our zone.”
Kasperi Kapanen and Zach Hyman also scored for the Maple Leafs.
“It’s in here for us to play like we did,” Muzzin said. “Having that competitiveness and that compete, the physicality and just letting our skill take over from there. Now it’s just about bringing it every night.”
[WATCH: Penguins vs. Lightning highlights]
Matt Murray made 26 saves in the loss.
“They’re a really good team in the offensive zone, and unfortunately we didn’t play enough in their zone and wear them down down there,” Crosby said. “A lot of times early in shifts they had a lot of energy to work and move and do what they do in the offensive zone. Our forecheck and our ability to win battles to keep the puck in their end wasn’t good, and because of that we spent a lot of the game in our end.”
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