Wednesdays night game against Pittsburgh was truly an enigmatic one. The Pens ravaged by injury have some how managed to keep their playoff hopes afloat. Missing the likes of Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Brooks Orpik for example would be enough to sink most teams, but this has not been the case. On Wednesday Pittsburgh and half the Wilkes/Scranton AHL affiliate rolled into the ACC for what was hyped to be some good hockey.
The Buds fell down by one early in the first but rallied back on a goal by Nikolai Kuleiman to finish the period tied at one. Kulemin notched his career high 23 of the season. This makes him the second highest scoring Russian born plaayer in the NHL this year. The highest scoring, Alexander Ovechkin with 25 so far.
The end of the first period saw the Leafs best hockey of the night. They looked like a real playoff contender. It was exciting and joy full to see such a young vibrant team working their butts off to get the job done. This enthusiasm however did not return for the remainder of the game. The second and third periods were full of defensive scrambles and giveaways. At one point I wasn't sure if the Leafs would ever get the puck out of their own end.
Although they floundered for the last two periods the Leafs somehow managed to pull off a tie and the game went into overtime. The overtime would not need to go into a shootout as Mikhail Grabovski scored his first in 7 games to give the Leafs two much needed points in the standings.
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