Jake Gardiner's goal gets Maple Leafs past Penguins

TORONTO -- Jake Gardiner scored two minutes into overtime and Frederik Andersen made 33 saves to help the Toronto Maple Leafs to a 2-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Air Canada Centre on Saturday.
The win ended a three-game losing streak for Toronto (12-11-7). It was the third consecutive game the Maple Leafs went beyond regulation.

WATCH: All Penguins vs. Maple Leafs highlights

"[Mitchell Marner] was all over their defenseman and created a turnover, and I saw my chance to jump," Gardiner said. "The puck squirted loose and I was a little nervous that I was going to flub it. I kind of did, and luckily it went in."
Marc-Andre Fleury made 47 saves for the Penguins (20-7-5), who extended their point streak to nine games (7-0-2).
"Obviously we would love to have won it for him," Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said. "He did a great job for us. It comes down to probably taking a few too many penalties ourselves to put ourselves in a bit of a hole trying to play catch up, but I think that being said, he did a great job. Obviously, it would have been great to get him the win."
Pittsburgh had a chance to take an early lead when Carl Hagelin was awarded a penalty shot 1:27 into the game after being tripped on a breakaway by Maple Leafs defenseman Connor Carrick, but Andersen made the save.

But Evgeni Malkin scored a power-play goal at 12:51 of the first period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. It was Malkin's 13th of the season.
Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev responded for the Maple Leafs at 13:05 with his first NHL goal to make it 1-1.
The Maple Leafs controlled play for much of the second period, but Fleury made 20 saves to keep the game tied. It was fourth time this week Toronto had 20 or more shots in a period.
Fleury had to leave the game at 1:59 of the first period after being hit with a skate by Maple Leafs forward James Van Riemsdyk near the neck, but he returned at 11:14. He received five stitches to close a cut on his throat. Goalie Matt Murray made six saves in 9:15.
"I got lucky. You know, talking to the doctors it was close to the jugular," Fleury said. "It was bad luck, but I was happy that it wasn't too bad though."

Goal of the game

After scoring what he thought would be his first NHL goal, Zaitsev had to wait a little longer before celebrating. The Penguins challenged the play, claiming goaltender inference from van Riemsdyk, who was stationed at the top of the crease, but the review upheld the goal. "It's unbelievable. I'm so happy," Zaitsev said. "I was waiting for that goal. If you watch the games, I got lots of chances every game, I think I got to have five goals already."

Save of the game

Andersen stopped Penguins forward Phil Kessel on a breakaway with a left pad save 11 minutes into the third period to keep the score 1-1. Kessel's stick broke while he attempt to shoot.

Highlight of the game

With a chance for the Maple Leafs to take a 2-1 lead, van Riemsdyk took a pass at the side of the net from forward Tyler Bozak but mishandled it and could not put it into an empty net before help arrived for the Penguins.

Unsung performance of the game

Maple Leafs defenseman Matt Hunwick took a four-minute high sticking penalty at 5:18 of the third period, followed by forward Nikita Soshnikov taking a delay of game penalty at 7:11, but the Maple Leafs killed them off to keep the game tied 1-1. "We had to get it done. We did really well the first two or three minutes to keep them out of the zone. Yeah, they had a few shots, but nothing too dangerous so we did really well there," Andersen said.

They said it

"That's a huge opportunity, a two minute 5-on-3 at that point in the game. With all the kills that we had to get to get to that point, our power play's got to come up big for us there." -- Penguins captain Sidney Crosby
"I don't try and tell them it's just another win. We showed a lot today about how detailed they were and how good they were, and that's what we're trying to do. So I think you should follow that up by feeling good about it." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock

Need to know

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan announced on Saturday that defenseman Trevor Daley is week-to-week because of an upper-body injury that occurred during a 1-0 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday. ... The Maple Leafs have been held to two or fewer goals in seven of their past eight games.

What's next

Penguins: Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ROOT, MSG 2, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday (7:30 p.m. ET; SNO, PRIME, NHL.TV)