The Leafs fell behind early last night in more ways than one. They gave up two goals in the first, a period in which they were heavily outshot by the Penguins who could turn the puck over at will and hold the Leafs in their own zone very easily.
Erik Karlsson scores first for Pittsburgh pic.twitter.com/KXnrPzT3fu
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2025
The Leafs had started very well for a couple of shifts, but it wasn't even difficult for Pittsburgh to get this puck and take it down the ice cleanly, enter the zone cleanly with no dump and chase required to get the first goal.
The second goal was a weird bit of business where Morgan Rielly knocked the puck down with a high stick and then it went in off of the Penguins player, who was also trying to knock it down, but seems to have missed it.
full play pic.twitter.com/mFOMH4cQ2U
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2025
Pittsburgh piled on the shots late in the first after they were up 2-0. This is a thing sometimes. The Leafs don't respond with anything much after goals against. Oh, and they had a terrible power play that could not get setup.
Penguins owned the neutral zone and the puck.
This is the review of the second period:
Leafs playoff odds currently at 42% https://t.co/PVBWmJfrJY pic.twitter.com/D4lgYsY7aj
— MoneyPuck.com (@MoneyPuckdotcom) November 4, 2025
Score adjusting makes the losing team look worse! That's talent. And not the first time this season I've noticed the Leafs doing this. But a check of HockeyViz, who show shot rates by score state, says this is not how they always play. It's very, very early to be chopping up game data into bits like this, so this will even out over the season, but you don't ever want to see a team get worse down by two.
so "players only meeting" territory or???
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2025
You can get bogged down in a bad period and lose perspective. You can. The team can't afford the luxury of rolling around in the doom and gloom.
nice feed from McCabe pic.twitter.com/qxi31iqCPB
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2025
two goals in 1:16
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2025
Nylander's fourth is a backhander off the post pic.twitter.com/N2KR5Oq6EA
And then, but wait... did all that baseball we all watched teach us anything? It ain't over until it's over. You don't give up when it gets a little, okay a lot, stanky.
William Nylander ties it with a one-timer 🚨 pic.twitter.com/Zo3lsw4v6G
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2025
Big big big play by Robertson who was moved off the top line in a switch with Nylander (see above two goals):
BOBBY MCMANN 🚨
— Omar (@TicTacTOmar) November 4, 2025
FOUR UNANSWERED GOALS pic.twitter.com/HUSCgmSQuQ
None of that comeback happens without Anthony Stolarz picking up the trash the Leafs were leaving for him in the first two periods.
Leafs win 4-3.
With an assist on William Nylander’s goal at 4:47 of the third period, Morgan Rielly recorded his 521st point as a Maple Leaf to pass Tomáš Kaberle for 14th on the franchise’s all-time point register, and now sits second in franchise history for points by a defenceman. pic.twitter.com/5pDsiFmhe4
— Leafs PR (@LeafsPR) November 4, 2025
Harry Nansi was dishing this weekend 🍎
— Ontario Hockey League (@OHLHockey) November 3, 2025
The @MapleLeafs prospect collected an impressive nine points (1-8–9) over the @AttackOHL's three wins, earning the @cogeco #OHLPOTW honours!
DETAILS 🗞️: https://t.co/tOl5jfcvRj@FloHockey | @CHLHockey pic.twitter.com/KRelNxZB3t
Maybe there's other teams making news, but that game was a lot and that's enough for today. Next game is Wednesday against the Mammoth.
