Game 4: Leafs 4, Pens 3

Leafs are for real this year.
Maple Leafs- 4
Colton Orr (Schenn, Brown) 1-5:18
Clarke MacArthur (Kaberle, Phaneuf) 2-3:01
Francois Beaucheman (Schenn, Zigomanis) 2-5:31
Clark MacArthur (Grabovski, Kulemin) 2-10:30
W- Gustavsson (22-25)
Penguins- 3
Chris Kuntiz (Malkin, Goligoski) 1-11:27
Maxime Talbot (Cooke, Kennedy) 1-17:33
Sidney Crosby (Lovejoy Cooke) 2-19:16
L- Fleury (10-14)
RECAP
Under the new NHL system, there is no such thing as an automatic win. Pens yet again learned this the hard way. This is my take on the progression of the game. The Pens came into the game expecting an easy win, got scored on early, rebounded from the early goal against and then grabbed the lead. After they took the lead into the 1st intermission, they once again backed off and allowed the Leafs to pump in 3 quick goals, and they were already too far behind before they started playing again. Maybe not, but that's at least what it looked like. To make matters worse, Fleury was way off his game. The defense managed to hold down the fort through the first period, but everything finally culminated in a 7 minute span in the 2nd period and this turned out to be the death punch for the Pens. There's really not much great to say about the Pens. Their defense was decent considering the absence of Orpik and Michalek, Sid finally got that first goal out of the way, and Deryk Engelland showed he can fight with the best of 'em by dropping Colton Orr. At least it's something to build on. Anyway, mad props to the Leafs after their major turnaround from last year.

Game Changing Play
I have to say Beaucheman's goal. It turned out to be the game winner, and it killed any momentum the Pens may have had.

Grades

Offense- B They weren't that bad. Moved the puck well and put 3 goals on the board.
Defense- A- Really remarkable effort without their top 2. Engelland and Hutchinson certainly held their own, and the D limited the Leafs to just 14 shots all game.
Fleury- D Yikes. One bad game means nothing, 2 bad games still probably means nothing, but 3 in a row starts to raise a few eyebrows. It would be nice to see MAF snap out of this slump.
Powerplay- B+ Got a goal. Shot the puck more, and took mostly quality shots. If anything, I must say that the powerplay was the most improved.
Penalty Kill- C- Just when you think the PP is working ok, the PK starts to screw up. I forsee a lot of special teams' practice this week at practice.

3 Big Points:

-Like I said, Fleury is starting to call some attention with his recent play. Yikes.

-Told ya the Leafs would be a contender.

-Pens really didn't make a whole lot of mistakes, but they just couldn't finish.