Morning-after recap: Five Alive

Well that sure was fun, was it not? Anytime you can beat the two-time defending Cup Champions and win your tenth straight game on home ice, you do it.

Kasperi “Penguins killer” Kapanen has a nice ring to it, eh?

Tic-tac-toe from Bozak and Leivo, and Kasperi Kapanen is about as open as anyone will ever be in front of the net. Tristan Jarry didn’t stand a chance, and the Leafs take an early 1-0 lead.

Is that Nazem Kadri or James van Riemsdyk? Standing down by the Penguins crease, Kadri scores his first of the night on a great deflection off a Morgan Rielly shot, and the Leafs head into the first intermission doubling their lead.

Nazem Kadri and two-goal games go together like wine and cheese. His sixth multi-goal game of the season comes seven seconds into the Leafs first power play of the night, banking in a rebound from Mitch Marner. Right place, right time, right result and it’s 3-0 good guys.

Mitch Marner has been on an absolute tear recently and there’s seemingly no stopping him. He’s leading the team in points still, tied up his goal total from last season and hey, managed to give the Leafs a 4-0 lead here.

Moments earlier, Pittsburgh’s Brian Dumoulin had a goal called back for goaltender interference, on a play where he was also awarded a penalty, giving Toronto the man advantage. Thanks, refs!

Pour one out for Ron Hainsey, who was having a pretty respectable game to this point against his former team. His stick gets caught in the wrong position and he puts the puck up and over Freddy to get the Penguins into the goal column.

What’s up with redirections and the Leafs this week, seriously?

Many fans seemed to have a “here we go again” reaction, but if you believe that each NHL goal is an independent event, the odds of the Leafs actually blowing the second half of a four-goal lead late in the third period still remained well below 1%.

We’re not one to sit here and overly analyze empty netters, but this one definitely had the aura of a “let me take care of this one, kids!” to it. Marleau’s 21st of the year, which is a pretty decent return so far.