Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jack Campbell calm, cool and collected in Leafs win

            By Neil Becker

 

            You can bet that Leafs Nation took a deep sigh of relief following the

            Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 Thursday night win at Scotiabank Arena against

            the Pittsburgh Penguins.

 

            Leafs goalie Jack Campbell, who is in the midst of a career season had a down

            month in January where he registered a .880 save percentage. The 30- year-old

            All-Star ended the month by being pulled after surrendering three goals on

            nine shots in what turned out to be a 6-4 January 31^st win against the New Jersey

            Devils. He also had some recent rough games such as on February 10^th when

            he allowed five goals on 26 shots in a 5-2 loss against the Calgary Flames which

            brought up the issue of possible fatigue.

            Any questions of fatigue or a goalie controversy were on Thursday night answered

            when a calm, cool, and collected Campbell made 45 saves in their win, which now

            leaves them only four points behind Atlantic Division-leading Florida Panthers.

            The Leafs, who this year were defeated twice in two games by the Penguins got

            an early jump when 21 seconds into regulation forward Auston Matthews scored

            his 33^rd goal of the year on a breakaway. The goal, which now has him one behind

            Edmonton Oilers Leon Draisaitl for the league lead also extended Matthew’s point

            streak to nine games.

 

            Pittsburgh, who came into town riding a six-game road winning streak surrendered

            15 first period shots against Toronto but found themselves trailing only 1-0 heading

            to the second period.

 

            Playing in front of 8,139 fans, the Leafs, got some insurance when on the power play

            defenceman Morgan Rielly performed his best Bobby Orr imitation by skating end to end

            before scoring his sixth at the 5:31 mark of the second.

 

           Rielly would go on to register his second point of the night when at the 18:36 mark of

           the second he made a perfect pass on a two on one shorthanded break to forward David Kampf

           who scored the third goal.

 

           The Penguins staged a furious third-period push as they outshot the Leafs by a 19-8 margin

           but were frustrated continuously by Campbell. They did however get

           rewarded when veteran forward Evgeni Malkin at the 3:33 mark scored his sixth

           which came off a rebound to cut the Leafs lead to 3-1. Less than three minutes later

           Toronto added to the lead as scrappy forward Michael Bunting continued to his

           career season by scoring his 16^th goal which came off a backhander to round out the

           scoring.

 

           The Leafs face another stiff challenge when on Saturday night they have a 7 p.m. puck

           Drop at Scotiabank Arena against the St. Louis Blues.

 

                             SCORING SUMMARY

          1^st. PERIOD                                    PIT/TOR

    0:21 Austin Matthews (33)                      0 –   1

T.J. Brodie (9), Mitch Marner (27)

 

          2^nd. PERIOD

    5:31 PPG- Morgan Rielly (6)                    0 –    2

    Jack Campbell (1)

 

         18:36 SHG- Michael Bunting (16)            0 – 3

 

                 3^rd PERIOD                                   PITT/ TOR

          3:33 Evgeni Malkin (6)                             1-  3

          Jeff Carter (16)

 

          6:06  Michael Bunting (16)                       1 –  4

          Auston Matthews (26), Mitch Marner (28)