Maple Leafs-Penguins: Toronto Wins Tight One Against Pittsburgh

On a night where former Toronto great Doug Gilmour was honored and embraced, Toronto seemed to gain an edge from the ceremony and played a similar style of hockey many were used to years ago.

They were aggressive, quick, hit hard, and managed to do something they don't do often; score the first goal of the game. Ian White slid home a loose puck to put the blue shirts up 1-0 over the Penguins.

In the second, Toronto continued to score going up 3-1 after getting goals from Nik Antropov and Alexei Ponikarovsky. On a night where former captain Gilmour was being honored a rookie was making his case for future captain.

Luke Schenn is a dominant force and he showed that with his huge hit on Malkin. It was a chippy game throughout, but this hit was the turning point. Fans erupted in the stands and Pittsburgh players were not happy with Schenn. Tyler Kennedy stepped up and fought Schenn which saw Schenn get the nice takedown and a bunch of nice jabs along the way. Adding to this was a great assist later in the third on Matt Stajan's goal.

Toronto carried their 3-1 lead into the third, but Pittsburgh wasn't going away. Eventually it was tied at 4-4 after the teams exchanged a few goals. Normally Toronto would give in and not try to win a game where they were leading, but this club is different.

Toronto has a good mix of youth and leadership and in previous games, they kept playing until the end. Blake would be the hero of the night again netting his 17th goal of the season and fourth goal in his last four games. This gave Toronto a 5-4 lead which they would not lose to.

Pittsburgh scorers were Crosby, Malkin, Satan, and Kennedy. Garon got the call for Pittsburgh and made 21 saves in the loss. Toskala got the start for Toronto and made 22 saves for the win. Both goalies were not sharp, but it was Toskala who looked very out of place. He allowed too many soft goals, a few of which were slappers shot from far away.

Questions surround his performaces as of late and his cooperation with this team, and after tonight they will continue.

The ceremony itself was truly a great moment to see and hear. Highlights of Doug Gilmour's career in Toronto played on the screens and fans chanted "Douggieee" throughout his speech.

Toronto will look to make it three wins in a row when they host the Florida Panthers Tuesday night at the Air Canada Centre.