2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series – Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the 2009 Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins 4-3
The 39th game of the 2010 Compuware NHL Premiere Series saw the 2009 Stanley Cup champions; Pittsburgh Penguins host the Toronto Maple Leafs. The match took place at the CONSOL Energy Centre this Wednesday. The match started at 07:40 EDT with
around 18,000 charismatic NHL fans present to support their respective teams. The Toronto Maple Leafs was playing in their 3rd game of the season, while the Pittsburgh Penguins played their 4th match thus far.
1st Period
The Pittsburgh Penguins, with the home crowds backing and with the dominating performance last time out were the confident out of the two teams. The Toronto Maple Leafs was looking to secure a victory and come up with a dominating performance by defeating
the 2009 champions.
The Toronto Maple Leafs was certainly successful in doing so when they scored in the 6th minute to stun the home crowd. They took the lead as the goal was scored by Colton Orr. The goal was result of an excellent tip in from 13 feet. With the
score on 1-0 in favour of the away team, the Toronto Maple Leafs didn’t make any further attacks and stayed back guarding their lead.
This went against them as the Pittsburgh Penguins grew in confidence and scored in the 12th minute after coming up with regular shots threatening the opposing goal on several occasions. This was scored by Chris Kunitz through a 10 feet tip in.
With the score level, the Toronto Maple Leafs still didn’t put their foot on the gas and were content on staying back. This was to prove fatal for them as the Pittsburgh Penguins scored once again in the 18th minute to take the lead. The goal was
scored by Maxime Talbot from 9 feet. The period ended as the Pittsburgh Penguins leading 2-1 despite falling behind earlier on.
During the period, the Pittsburgh Penguins scored twice out of the 9 goal attempts and the Toronto Maple Leafs scored once out of the 7 goal attempts.
2nd Period
The 2nd saw the game turn around dramatically as the Toronto Maple Leafs came up with a show of a lifetime.
The Toronto Maple Leafs realized that if they wanted to win the game, it would be due to their offence and not the defence. Indeed, this was the right attitude adopted by the Toronto Maple Leafs and this helped their cause a lot. The Maple Leafs scored in
the 4th minute to level the game. The game came from Clarke Macarthur from 16 feet. The Toronto Maple Leafs was able to carry their splendid attacking form as the game progressed and scored once again to take the lead. The goal was scored by Francois
Beauchemin from 45 feet that took the score to 3-2 in favour of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Pittsburgh Penguins started to form plays slowly and got their confidence back. But all their efforts went vain as the Toronto Maple Leafs scored once again in the 11th minute to take the score to 4-2. The goal scorer was Clarke Macarthur
who bagged his 2nd for the night.
The 2009 champions managed to cut the lead down to 1 goal when they scored in the 20th minute. The goal scored by Pittsburgh Penguins Captain Sidney Crosby in took the score to 4-3. The goal was a result of a fabulous backhand by Crosby from close
range. The period ended with the Pittsburgh Penguins scoring 1 goal out of the 11 goal attempts and the Toronto Maple Leafs scoring 3 goals out of the 5 goal attempts.
3rd Period
The 3rd Period didn’t see much happening as the period ended without any goals being scored in it. During the period, the Maple Leafs came up with 2 goal attempts and the Pittsburgh Penguins made 9 goal attempts but none found the back of the
net as the Penguins won the match 4-3.
"Everyone keeps bringing up last year," Captain Dion Phaneuf said.
"Well, it doesn't really matter right now. We're focused on this group and this year."
"There's got to be a certain level of execution," Coach Dan Bylsma said. "If you don't have it, you can't expect to be a good team and you can't expect to win."
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