In his 1,000 games as an NHL ref, Don Van Massenhoven surely has never seen a sequence quite like this one.
For the Maple Leafs, it was just another way to lose a hockey game in a season that is rapidly and resolutely imploding.
The struggling Stanley Cup-champion Pittsburgh Penguins scored a 4-1 win in front of a restless Air Canada Centre crowd. The punch to the gut this time was a bizarre sequence in the second period in which Sergei Gonchar scored a pair of goals to break a 1-1 tie.
A picturesque goal by Pens captain Sidney Crosby early in the third put it away as the Leafs lost for the eighth time in their past 10 games, a streak of ineptitude that is starting to rival their miserable start to the season.
The Leafs were in it early, holding the Pens to a 1-1 tie after 20 minutes before the wild developments unfolded at the 14:44 mark of the middle period.
It started with Gonchar’s first goal of the night, one that almost never was, a play that challenged the officials, including Van Massenhoven, who was working the milestone game.
A blast from the point hit the post and then the back bar of the net but did so with such speed that none of the men in stripes saw it. As play continued, Leafs forward Alexei Ponikarovsky got loose on a breakaway and when he was hauled down by Gonchar and was awarded a penalty shot.
The subsequent video review showed that Gonchar’s shot clearly was a goal and since NHL video review rules don’t allow two goals on one play, the penalty shot was revoked.
Instead, Gonchar was assessed a two-minute hooking penalty. Once the Penguins killed that off, Gonchar skated inside the Leafs blueline, took a pass from Evgeni Malkin and fired a one-timer past a helpless Jonas Gustavsson.
Crosby put it away early in the third with a dazzling deke that left Leafs defenceman Tomas Kaberle swatting for air with his stick and Gustavsson steaming after a failed poke check that allowed the Pens star to slip the puck past him one-handed.
Nothing new here as the Leafs watched their opponent open the scoring for the 33rd time at 7:24 of the first period. Crosby made a pass to the front of the net where there was a wide open opponent - again no surprise - and Bill Guerin slid the puck past Gustavsson.
The lagging Leafs power play showed some life late in the first when Matt Stajan buried a shot high to the corner behind Marc-Andre Fleury.
Stajan’s goal, with 1:12 left in the opening period was his fourth point in his past three games and a wakeup for Phil Kessel who made a good pass to set it up. It was Kessel’s first point in five games and just his second in a dozen.
In some respects, the Penguins were ripe for the taking. The reigning Stanley Cup champions entered last night’s game having lost six of their previous seven in a dramatic reversal of form from their magical run this past spring.
Malkin entered the game on a seven-game goalless streak.
rob.longley@sunmedia.ca
