TORONTO _ Friday night against the Kings, the Penguins were pleased with how they played, if not the result.
Against Toronto Saturday, they certainly could have played better, but managed to stay in the game until the very end.
Ultimately, though, the result was the same
Toronto's Jake Gardiner scored the game-winning goal at 2:00 of overtime, sending the Penguins to a 2-1 loss against the Maple Leafs, their second overtime loss in as many nights.
Penguins defenseman Derrick Pouliot lost the puck in the corner, and Gardiner pounced up from his spot on the blue line to score the game-winner.
The Penguins missed a golden chance to take the lead in the third, when they had over a minute of 5-on-3 advantage but couldn't put the puck past Andersen, or even generate many threatening chances. A few minutes later, Phil Kessel's stick broke as he bore down on Andersen alone on a breakaway.
Playing without two of their best puck-moving defensemen _ not to mention the two that shouldered the heaviest workload _ the Penguins struggled to generate offense out of their defensive zone.
Kris Letang and Trevor Daley were both out of the lineup with injuries, so the Penguins turned to Derrick Pouliot on the top pairing with Brian Dumoulin and Steve Oleksy with Olli Maatta in place of Daley.
Justin Schultz and Ian Cole also played an increased role, both well surpassing their season average for time on ice per game.
Schultz led all Penguins defensemen in ice time with 23:03, and Dumoulin was second with 21:50.
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead on Evgeni Malkin's 13th goal of the season at 12:51 of the first period. On the team's first power-play chance of the night, Justin Schultz faked a shot up high, and found Malkin with a pass to the right side. With the net mostly open, Malkin didn't miss, sending a blistering one-timer into the net before Andersen could get over.
The lead didn't last long. Less than a minute later, the Maple Leafs tied the score on Nikita Zaitsev's first career goal. Zaitsev's shot from the point deflected off Penguins defenseman Steve Oleksy's stick, then Fleury's helmet, before floating into the back of the net to make it 1-1 at 13:05 of the first.
The fact that Fleury was even in the net at that point, though, was a bit of a relief for the Penguins. Just two minutes into the game, Fleury took a skate to the neck and needed attention from the Penguins' medical trainers. He went to the dressing room, with Matt Murray replacing him in goal, but returned just 10 minutes later.
Fleury finished with 31 saves on the night in the loss. Murray stopped all six shots he faced in his brief 9:15 of action in the first period.
The Penguins also missed a scoring opportunity early in the game, as Carl Hagelin was stuffed by Andersen on a penalty shot, keeping the game scoreless at 1:30 of the first. Hagelin moved from his forehand to his backhand, but couldn't push the puck past Andersen's pad.
Andersen finished with 33 saves on the night, stopping all but Malkin's snipe in the first period.
Neither team scored in the second period, but the Penguins were relatively fortunate to keep the Maple Leafs off the board. Toronto racked up a 20-10 advantage in shots on goal in the second period, and had a number of pucks that just barely trickled wide of the goal.
The Maple Leafs also failed to convert on their two power plays in the second period, and went 0-for-4 with the man advantage on the night.
The Penguins, meanwhile, struggled to generate chances and held on for dear life until the second intermission.
The overtime loss continues the Penguins' streak of earning at least one point in every game this month, a run that now sits at eight games.
The Penguins return to action Tuesday at home against the Rangers in their first divisional game of the month.
