Maple Leafs 6, Penguins 2: Blake Stars, Scoring Goals 19 Seconds Apart

The Toronto Maple Leafs scored six unanswered goals, including five in third period, to crush the Pittsburgh Penguins 6-2. The Leafs have beaten the Penguins three times in a row, scoring 18 goals in those games.

The Penguins got off to a quick start but the Maple Leafs came back. At the end of the first period, Pittsburgh led Toronto 2-0 on early goals by Matt Cooke and Bill Thomas. Cook got his goal at the 1:23 mark of the game.Thomas scored while the Penguins were short-handed.

Nik Antropove scored the first goal for the Maple Leafs half way through the second period.

There were four roughing penalties in the first half of the game -- two for Toronto and two for Pittsburgh.

Toronto was outshooting Pittsburgh but the Penguins were outscoring the Maple Leafs.

In the third period, Toronto got five more unanswered goals, two by Jason Blake -- just 19 seconds apart -- and singles by John Mitchell, Alexei Ponikarovsky, and Matt Stajan.
Toronto was outshooting the Penguins 39 to 25 at that point.

Blake now has 21 goals on the season, with 11 coming in the last 13 games.

The Penguins had won three of their last four games and moved back into playoff position. Marc-Andre Fleuy stopped 33 shots in their last game, against the New York Rangers. Fleury was brilliant last Thursday when the Penguins beat San Jose Sharks 2-1.

Both Rusian Fedotenko and Sergei Gonchar were back in the line-up for the Penguins. Sidney Crosby was kept off the scoreboard and Malkin registered just one assist. Crosby finished the night as a minus-3 and has now gone three games in a row without a point.