PITTSBURGH — The one that got away.

That’s the best way to describe the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 5-4 shootout loss Tuesday night to the Pittsburgh Penguins.

It should have been two points in the bank. Instead, the Leafs are coming home with just one after blowing a three-goal lead in the final 12 minutes of the third period.

If there is a consolation for the Leafs, it is that they still managed to temporarily move a point ahead of the Florida Panthers for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference standings. But on a night when victory looked all but assured, this will go down as a wasted opportunity.

“I don’t think there’s a lot of time to be deflated,” said Leafs captain Dion Phaneuf, whose team returns home to face the Penguins again on Wednesday. “The way that the schedule’s set up, you have to have short memories. We’re not happy about it. It’s unacceptable to have that lead and lose a hockey game, but we have to forget about it quick because we’re playing them tomorrow night.

“If we’re back in the top eight, we’re happy to be there. But we have to have short memories, learn from our mistakes and move forward. Tomorrow’s a new day.”

If there is a lesson to be learned, it is to play right until the final buzzer. This was a game in which Toronto was the more dominant team for the first 55 minutes. But five minutes was all Pittsburgh needed. Or rather, it was all Penguins star Evgeni Malkin needed, who sent the game into overtime and then scored the shootout winner.

“Geno in the clutch there,” Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said, shaking his head.

Yes, it was a familiar scene for Pittsburgh fans. During this winning streak, which stretched to eight games with the victory against Toronto, Malkin has scored 10 goals — including four game-winners — and 14 points.

He was the hero Tuesday, but he was not alone.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury was spectacular, stopping 35 shots for his seventh straight win. Meanwhile third- and fourth-liners Matt Cooke, Joe Vitale and Steve Sullivan provided unlikely offence.

Still, this was a game that Pittsburgh stole.

“That was not a lot of what we like to see on the ice,” Bylsma said. “They played extremely well, extremely fast and made it real tough on our team. Looking up and seeing it was 4-1 was real indicative of our play.

“I guess you have to win a lot of different ways, but I’m not sure we deserved the fate we got today.”

After a scoreless first period, Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the second period on goals from Mikhail Grabovski in the span of about three minutes. The Leafs then stretched their lead to 4-1 after Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scored 19 seconds apart in the third period.

While the Penguins went down, they were allowed to get back up and started to mount what seemed like an improbable comeback.

Slowly, the goals came.

Sullivan blasted a slap shot past Leafs goaltender Jonas Gustavsson to make the score 4-2 at 8:33. With less than five minutes remaining, Vitale made the score 4-3. Then, with 6.6 seconds left in the period, the Penguins completed the comeback when a shot from James Neal redirected off Malkin’s arm.

Malkin then beat Gustavsson with a shot off the post for the only goal of the three-round shootout.

“That was a good shot,” Gustavsson said, “but when you’re up three goals, you want to hang onto it and get the win.”

Leafs coach Ron Wilson said the game might have turned out differently had the Leafs not had a goal early in the first period disallowed. On the play, Tyler Bozak lifted a backhand over a stumbling Fleury, but on-ice officials told Wilson that Joffrey Lupul had interfered with the Penguins goaltender.

“In hindsight now, it was an important goal to have waived off,” Wilson said.

Of course, the reason for the loss was because of what happened in the third period. The Leafs had their foot on the Penguins’ necks and then took it off.

“We took the game to them for the first 55 (minutes),” Phaneuf said. “Then we tightened up and sat back and they took it to us. They broke us.”

National Post

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