Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Toronto Maple Leafs (17-14-3, 37 points) and Pittsburgh Penguins (23-10-1, 47 points) faceoff for the third and final time this season live from the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh. The game can be live streamed here. Toronto fans can hear all of the action by adjusting their radios to TSN 1050 while Pittsburgh fans can do the same on 105.9 WXDX The X.
Toronto may have started to break out of its slump as the team had a dominant statement victory on Saturday while Pittsburgh enters play atop the Metropolitan Division after winning eight of their past nine games. The Maple Leafs defeated the Penguins 4-1 in Toronto on Oct. 26 before the Pens got a measure of revenge over the Leafs with a 6-5 shootout win on Nov. 27 in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins have been banged up on the blueline and will be without defenseman Kris Letang until late December due to an upper-body injury. The team's second highest scorer Evgeni Malkin (9-32-41) is sidelined with a leg injury he sustained during the team's 4-1 win over the Detroit Red Wings on Saturday. Malkin leads the league in assists and is third in points.
With Malkin sidelined, the team will rely on captain Sidney Crosby, who is on a six-game point streak and leads the NHL with 46 points and is fifth in goals (18) while being tied for third in assists (28). Chris Kunitz has 33 points off of 17 tallies and 16 helpers thus far this season.
The Maple Leafs dominated the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks on Saturday with a 7-3 victory.
"We really felt we needed a win," said Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul, according to ESPN. "We came into the game feeling like it was pretty close to a must-win for us. Things were kind of starting to snowball the other way."
The Leafs have been led up front by Phil Kessel, who has 32 points off of 17 goals and 15 assists while James van Riemsdyk has lit the lamp 14 times and added 12 helpers for 26 points and Mason Raymond has found the back of the net 10 times and added 14 assists for 24 points.
The probable goaltender for Pittsburgh is Marc-Andre Fleury, who leads the league with 18 wins and is 18-8-1 with a 2.01 goals-against average and a .924 save percentage while Toronto's likely starter is Jonathan Bernier, who is 10-10-2 with a 2.55 GAA and a .925 save percentage.
The Maple Leafs look to keep their offense going after scoring seven goals Saturday while the Penguins look to keep piling on the wins when the puck drops at Consol Energy Center tonight in Pittsburgh.
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