Pittsburgh Review

Late in the second period of Pittsburgh's game against Toronto, Matthew Knies capitalized on a turnover at his own blue line and scored with 0.1 seconds remaining. This was the second goal for Toronto in that final minute, turning a 4-3 deficit into a 5-4 lead before intermission. However, the Penguins responded with a goal just 10 seconds into the third period by Rickard Rakell, eventually losing 6-5 in overtime.

“Yeah, I mean, it was the worst-case scenario there, but we had two ways to go between the second and third period,” said Rakell, who scored twice in the contest. “We could either try to respond or just give up, so, I thought we played a better third period and it kept us in the game. They're a good team, but tough not to get the two points.”

The Penguins had aimed for a better start after going down 2-0 to Boston on Saturday. Despite finding themselves down by the same score early against Toronto, they responded with three consecutive goals to take the lead. Auston Matthews tied it up early in the middle frame before Bryan Rust gave Pittsburgh another lead late.

“I thought for a lot of the night we were pretty good,” Rust said. “When we did make mistakes, they were fairly big mistakes. And they’ve got some guys who can score some goals over there.”

Rookie goalie Joel Blomqvist made 27 saves for Pittsburgh after performing well against Philadelphia earlier in the week. Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan praised Blomqvist’s potential: “Joel's a young kid and he's trying to find his way and establish himself in this league... But he's a very good goalie; we believe he has great potential moving forward.”

Rickard Rakell reached an individual milestone during this game as he became the fastest active Swedish-born player to reach 500 career points.

“Obviously, lucky enough to play in this league for a long time,” Rakell said. “It’s a big milestone for myself.”

Sidney Crosby also made history with his performance; his goal marked his 185th career three-point game—the fifth most in NHL history—and moved him past Bobby Hull on all-time goals list while also surpassing Gordie Howe on assists list.

“He's incredible,” said Maple Leafs forward William Nylander about Crosby's achievement.

“He's still just as skilled," Knies added about Crosby’s impact on their match-up.