Pittsburgh Penguins Dominate Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2

The Pittsburgh Penguins (2-0) have continued their fast start with another win. Tonight the Penguins played, and beat, the Toronto Maple Leafs (0-2), winning 5-2. Overall, the team looked fantastic and the chemistry between the players is beginning to appear.

However, the Pittsburgh Penguins still need to clean up their penalty kill. They gave the Maple Leafs five power play chances and the Leafs managed to convert twice. That’s right, the Maple Leafs only scored with a man advantage.

The Penguins new, simpler defensive system seems to be working very well at even strength, not so much missing one skater.

Throughout both regular season wins, the Pittsburgh Penguins’ defense has been exposed while on the penalty kill. Which makes sense, with a new coach and a new defensive system, the penalty kill will be one of the last aspects of their game to come together.

Despite the lack of penalty killing, the Penguins began the onslaught early and did not let up. It was 3-0 by the end of the first period and they followed their stellar first period with a goal in the second and third periods.

Oct 11, 2014; Toronto, Ontario, CAN; Pittsburgh Penguins center Brandon Sutter (16) celebrates his goal with center Evgeni Malkin (71) and right wing Pascal Dupuis (9) against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre. The Penguins beat the Maple Leafs 5-2. Mandatory Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports

Penguins captain, Sidney Crosby has continued his dominance and will most likely be the NHL scoring leader tonight. Tonight was Crosby’s second game of the season and second time posting three points in a game. Thursday, Crosby was able to net two goals and one assist, while tonight he worked his way to one goal and two assists.

Fellow superstar, Evgeni Malkin had a three point night as well with the same stat line (1 G – 2 A). New Penguin, Patric Hornqvist was able to score one goal and one assist but he finished the night with 9 shots. Check out Malkin’s insane goal from tonight below.

While it is fantastic that the Penguins’ stars are scoring, the scoring feels too similar to last season. One of the big reasons the Pittsburgh Penguins ownership brought in new GM Jim Rutherford was to build a team that had four lines that can score. During the first two games, only one player outside of the top two lines has a point. That one player is Blake Comeau, who scored one goal during the first game.

So while it is great that the Pittsburgh Penguins have started the season strongly, they need to get their depth lines more involved. I do not think I need to talk more about the last couple playoff runs, but head coach Mike Johnston needs to pressure the bottom six to perform better.

Hopefully over the four day break Johnston can work on developing the penalty kill and improving the third and fourth lines.

Also on a side note, if you had looked at my preview of the game tonight I was able to correctly predict the score.

What did you think of the game tonight Pittsburgh Penguins fans? Let us know in the comments below!