Penguins defeated Maple Leafs 4-2 on Hall of Fame night

On a night that saw some of hockey’s greats being honoured at Scotiabank Arena, The Maple Leafs followed it up with a lackluster performance against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Erik Kallgren made his third consecutive start and had another mediocre performance allowing three goals on 22 shots. It’s not all his fault, however. The Leafs have only scored three or more goals in one game this year (not an empty net), a 5-2 win against the Philadelphia Flyers.

The fourth line for Toronto continues to be a bright spot with Zach Aston-Reese scoring off a great Denis Malgin forecheck.

Evgeni Malkin would answer back with 36 seconds left in the first. Jason Zucker followed up the late goal with an early one just one minute into the second. With the assist on the goal, Malkin now has 67 points in 41 against the Maple Leafs.

William Nylander tied the game at two late in the frame on the powerplay. Nylander made a break into the zone earlier on the same powerplay, beat Casey DeSmith but tucked it off the post. His goal was a one timer off a pass from Morgan Rielly.

This was all the offence the Leafs could muster. The team only had four shots on goal the entire third period. DeSmith still faced 30 shots, stopping 28 of them on route to the victory.

Brock McGinn scored the go-ahead goal two minutes into the third, while Jake Guentzel’s empty netter came in the last minute. All the Penguins goals came either under two minutes into a period or with a minute left.

Leaf’s legend Borje Salming received a huge ovation prior to the game with an emotional pregame ceremony honouring this year’s Hall of Fame inductees.

Salming was diagnosed in the summer with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. He was joined by other Leaf’s legends Mats Sundin and Darryl Sittler. Sittler was visibly full of emotion as he helped Salming wave to the crowd in a beautiful moment.

The Leafs stay at home and play the Vancouver Canucks Saturday in their second back-to-back in under a week.

TOR Scoring: Aston-Reese (2), Nylander PP (6)

PIT Scoring: Malkin (6), Zucker (4), McGinn (3), Guentzel EN (8)