PITTSBURGH — Mitchell Marner had a goal and an assist to extend his point streak to 16 games, helping the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins 4-1 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Marner has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) during the streak, which is the longest in the NHL this season. Only Darryl Sittler (18 games in 1977-78) and Eddie Olczyk (18 games in 1989-90) have had a longer streak in Toronto history.
“I guess it’s cool, but we’re trying to get wins as a hockey team,” Marner said. “We’re trying to do something special. We’re just trying to collect wins and do our thing. I’m just trying to go out there and buzz and do me.”
Austin Matthews had a goal and two assists, William Nylander scored, and Erik Kallgren made 25 saves for the Maple Leafs (13-5-5), who have won the first three of a four-game road trip and extended their point streak to eight games (6-0-2).
Sidney Crosby had an assist, and Casey DeSmith made 37 saves for the Penguins (11-8-3), who had won five in a row.
“We got outplayed,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “We just got outplayed. I think Toronto played hard. You have to give Toronto credit. They played hard, they defended hard. They made us work for our offense. I think we gave them some easy looks.”
Video: TOR@PIT: Marner gives Maple Leafs lead in 1st period
Marner gave the Maple Leafs a 1-0 lead on the first shot of the game 40 seconds into the first period. During a Pittsburgh line change, Marner received a pass from Matthews for a partial breakaway before going backhand to forehand and around the left pad of DeSmith.
“We talked about how the recipe for us here of late has been to get off to good starts, control the game,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “That’s sort of the way the game went the last time we were in here (a 5-2 win on Nov. 15). It’s the way it’s been on this trip. That sets us up for success, for sure.”
Pittsburgh was outshot 17-5 in the first, including going 11:04 without one on goal until Rickard Rakell had a wrist shot with 1:34 remaining.
“We didn’t have a good first right from the get-go,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “We didn’t apply pressure, we didn’t execute, we didn’t have any details in our game.”
Rakell nearly tied it at 7:58 of the second period, fighting off a Maple Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren From a shot in the crease to backhand Jake Guentzel that trickled through Kallgren. However, the play was deemed dead because the referee lost sight of the puck, a ruling that was upheld following a review.
“I felt like we didn’t have the start that we wanted in this game,” Rakell said. “Maybe there was some frustration on our part. We tried to get back to it after the first period. It’s some unfortunate bounces.”
Video: TOR@PIT: Matthews nets 10th goal of season 3rd
Pontus Holmberg made it 2-0 at 9:55 of the second period, taking a pass from Marner out of the corner for a wrist shot from the slot.
Nylander extended it to 3-0 at 10:50 with a one-timer from the slot off a pass from Matthews.
The goal was Nylander’s 149th in the NHL, passing Hall of Fame defenseman Borje Salming for 30th in Maple Leafs history. Salming, who was from Sweden and played 1,099 games for Toronto, died on Thursday following a short battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Rakell cut it to 3-1 with a wrist shot near the right post at 11:38 of the third period.
Matthews made it 4-1 at 14:36 with a spinning shot from a pass off the slot Michael Buntingwho made the play from his side after falling to the ice.
“It’s a good team over there, obviously. They’ve been playing really well lately,” Matthews said. “So I think we knew it was going to be a pretty big challenge for us tonight. … Limited their best guys. Try to limit them. Obviously, they’re going to get their looks, they’re too good not to, but I just thought (our) all-around game was just really solid.”
NOTES: Marner extended his road point streak to eight games (four goals, six assists), tying an NHL career high he set in 2021-22. … Matthews has 200 even-strength goals, becoming the seventh player in Toronto history to reach the mark. It is also tied with Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals for the most in the NHL since Matthews’ made his debut in 2015-16. … DeSmith started for the first time since being evaluated for an upper-body injury after making 29 saves in a 5-3 win against the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday.
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