Jason Spezza put the Maple Leafs on the board at 14:49 of the second period. Spezza has three points (2-1-3) over his last five games played. He has registered both of his goals on the road this season. In 46 career games against the Penguins, he has recorded 51 points (18 goals, 33 assists).
Nic Petan registered the primary assist on Spezza’s second period goal. Petan has two assists in eight games with the Maple Leafs this season.
Tyson Barrie had the secondary assist on Spezza’s second period goal. Barrie has six assists in 22 games this season. All of his assists have come against Eastern Conference opponents. He has nine points (4-5-9) in 10 career games against Pittsburgh.
Kasimir Kaskisuo stopped 32 shots in the loss. Tonight’s game was his first career NHL game
The Maple Leafs went 0-for-1 on the penalty kill and 0-for-2 on the power play tonight.
At 4:32 of the second period, video review determined the actions of Toronto’s Jake Muzzin caused Pittsburgh’s Brandon Tanev to contact goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo prior to Dominik Kahun’s goal. As a result, the call on the ice was overturned – Goal Pittsburgh.
Mike Babcock coached his 1,300th career NHL game.
Jake Muzzin was on the ice for a team-high 25 Toronto shot attempts-for at 5-on-5 tonight. He finished the game with a 5-on-5 shot attempt percentage of 69.4 percent (25 for, 11 against).
Auston Matthews was 6-for-7 (86%) when taking offensive zone faceoffs and won 89 percent (8 won, 1 lost) of his draws against Pittsburgh centre Evgeni Malkin.
Jason Spezza won 80 percent (4 won, 1 lost) of his faceoffs when matched up with Pittsburgh centre Joseph Blandisi.
UPCOMING GAMES:
Tuesday, November 19, 10:00 p.m. at Vegas Golden Knights (TSN4, TSN 1050)
Thursday, November 21, 9:00 p.m. at Arizona Coyotes (Sportsnet Ontario, FAN 590)
Saturday, November 23, 7:00 p.m. at Colorado Avalanche (Sportsnet, TSN 1050)
Wednesday, November 27, 7:00 p.m. at Detroit Red Wings (Sportsnet, TSN 1050)
Friday, November 29, 4:00 p.m. at Buffalo Sabres (TSN4, FAN 590)
Texas: M. Mersch (2) (J. Kiviranta, E. Djuse), M. Mersch (3) (B. Gleason, D. Heatherington), B. Gleason (1) (C. Bleackley), J. L’Esperance (4) (J. Nyberg, E. Djuse) Goaltender: L. Bow (21/28), J. Oettinger (11/12)
Toronto: K. Agostino (6) PP (J. Bracco, P. Aberg), P. Engvall (5) PP (E. Korshkov, T. Kivihalme), N. Baptiste (1) (H. Elynuik), N. Baptiste (2) SH (T. Kivihalme), K. Agostino (7) (J. Schmaltz, J. Bracco), K. Agostino (8) (J. Bracco, A. Brooks), T. MacMaster (3) (H. Elynuik, B. Harpur), P. Engvall (6) (P. Aberg, J. Schmaltz) Goaltender: J. Woll (22/26)
ON THE SCORESHEET
Kenny Agostino scored his second career hat trick with goals at 4:29 of the first period and 6:37 and 10:18 of the second period. Agostino has 14 points (8 goals, 6 assists) through 12 games this season. He has recorded points 94-1-4) in consecutive games.
Pierre Engvall scored Toronto’s second power play goal of the first period at 7:26 and scored at Toronto’s eighth goal at 18:33 of the second period. This is his second straight game where he has scored two goals. He has five points (4 goals, 1 assists) in consecutive games.
Nick Baptiste scored two goals in the second period, his first at 3:13 and his second shorthanded at 5:00. This is his second career shorthanded goal and his 10th multi-goal game.
Tanner MacMaster scored at 11:17 of the second period. MacMaster set a career high for goals scored (3). He has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) through 13 games.
Jeremy Bracco recorded assists on each of Agostino’s three goals. Bracco has 13 points (2 goals, 11 assists) through 14 games this season.
Pontus Aberg registered the secondary assist on Agostino’s first period goal and the primary assist on Engvall’s second goal of the game. Aberg leads the Marlies in points (15).
Egor Korshkov picked up the primary assist on Engvall’s first period power play goal.
Teemu Kivihalme had the secondary assist on Engvall’s first period power play goal and the lone assist on Baptiste’s second goal. These are Kivihalme’s first two points of the season through 12 games.
Hudson Elynuik recorded the sole assist on Baptiste first goal of the second period and the primary assist on MacMaster’s second period goal. These are Elynuik’s first two points of the season.
Jordan Schmaltz registered the primary assist on Agostino’s second goal of the game and the secondary assist on Engvall’s second goal of the game. Schmaltz has seven points (1 goal, 6 assists) through 11 games this season.
Adam Brooks picked up the secondary assist on Agostino’s third goal of the game. Brooks has five points (1 goal, 4 assists) through five games this season.
Ben Harpur collected the secondary assist on MacMaster’s second period goal.
Joseph Woll stopped 22 of 26 shots he faced. Woll is now 3-1-1-1 on the season with a 0.891 Save Percentage and a 3.43 Goals Against Average.
OF NOTE…
Toronto last scored eight goals in a game on November 10, 2018 against Belleville.
Kenny Agostino’s hat trick is the first at home in the regular season since Chris Mueller on March 30, 2019 against Laval.
With Jeremy Bracco’s three assists today, he is now fifth in franchise history for all time assists (94).
Toronto was 2-for-2 on the penalty kill and was 1-for-3 on the power play. Nick Baptiste scored their second shorthanded goal of the season in the second period.
Toronto had a 40-26 edge in shots in all situations. Pontus Aberg, Pierre Engvall and Matt Read led the Marlies with five shots on goal.
The Marlies are 4-2-0-0 against Central Division opponents and are 1-0-0-0 against the Stars. This is the first of four games this season against Texas.
REGULAR SEASON LEADERS
Goals: P. Aberg, K. Agostino (8)
Assists: J. Bracco (11)
Points: P. Aberg (15)
PPG: E. Korshkov (4)
Shots: P. Aberg (46)
+/-: B. Harpur (+11)
PIMS: G. Wilson (21)
RECORD WHEN…
Toronto is 8-2-1-1 when scoring first.
The Marlies are 6-1-1-1 when leading after the first period and 5-0-0-0 when leading after the second period.
Toronto is 6-0-1-0 when outshooting their opponent.
The Marlies are 5-0-1-1 in Saturday games and are 3-2-0-1 in November.
CURRENT POINT STREAKS
Pontus Aberg has points (1-2-3) in consecutive games.
Kenny Agostino has points (4-1-5) in consecutive games.
Pierre Engvall has points (4-1-5) in consecutive games.
Tanner MacMaster has points (1-1-2) in consecutive games.
MARLIES UPDATES.
Darren Archibald (forearm strain) did not play in today’s game against Texas. He has not dressed since November 6 against Rockford.
Kevin Gravel (illness) did not dress in today’s game against Texas.
Timothy Liljegren (knee contusion) did not dress for today’s game against Texas. He left Toronto’s game in the first period against Grand Rapids on November 9.
Rasmus Sandin left today’s game against Texas midway through the second period and did not return.
RECENT TRANSACTIONS
November 15: Recalled forward Scott Pooley from loan to Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 15: Reassigned defenceman Joseph Duszak by Toronto (NHL) to Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 12: Reassigned defenceman Joseph Duszak by Toronto (NHL) from Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 12: Reassigned defenceman Mac Hollowell by Toronto (NHL) from Newfoundland (ECHL).
November 12: Loaned goaltender Michael Hutchinson from Toronto (NHL).
November 12: Recalled goaltender Kasimir Kaskisuo from loan by Toronto (NHL).
November 12: Recalled forward Nic Petan from loan by Toronto (NHL).
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH SHELDON KEEFE
On today’s game: I liked a lot about our game, especially our start. We spent a lot of time on their half of the ice, a lot of time with the puck. We attacked the net with a lot more frequency all throughout the game, so I liked that. Liked that our power play got us rolling in the game for sure. A lot of really good things. About half of the game is probably a throwaway, given the nature of the score and all that but I liked how we started. I liked that when we had opportunities to score we made plays and made it real hard on the goalie.
On the status of defencemen Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin: Liljegren has been skating here, I think today might have been his third day back on the ice, so that’s very positive given the nature of his injury and how it looked in the early going. That’s good for us. He’s not going to play tomorrow but he looks like he’s a lot further along than we thought he might be. Sandin left the game today, more precautionary. He just had to get some tests and stuff done to figure out exactly what is happening with him and we’ll see how it is from there. At this point I wouldn’t expect him to play tomorrow but depending on the test results and how he’s feeling, that could change. NEXT GAME:
November 17 vs Texas – 4:00 p.m. ET November 20 vs Laval – 7:00 p.m. ET November 23 vs Manitoba – 4:00 p.m. ET November 24 vs Manitoba – 4:00 p.m. ET November 29 at Rochester – 7:05 p.m. ET
The view from left field 