It's been quite a busy month for the Pittsburgh Penguins. The first month of the season is now in the books for the Penguins after falling to the Toronto Maple Leaps, 4-3, Saturday night. Pittsburgh played 13 games in 26 nights and finished the month with a 8-3-2 record, not too shabby for a squad that's missing its top player and dealing with a number of other injuries on the roster.
Toronto ran its record to 7-2-1 thanks to Brett Kessel's league-leading tenth goal midway through the third period that broke a 3-3 tie. Prior to Kessel's game-winning slap shot, Mikhail Grabovski, Tim Connolly and Clarke MacArthur scored for the Maple Leafs.
James Neal entered the game tied with Kessel for the league lead in goals with nine. After Kessel broke the tie in the final period, Neal had a great opportunity for an equalizer but was denied by Jonas Gustavsson.
Matt Cook, Chris Kunitz and Evgeni Malkin provided the scoring for Pittsburgh. Making his fifth appearance of the young 2011-2012 season, Malkin had an up-and-down night. He was in the penalty box for Toronto's first two goals in periods one and two. Like all great stars do though, Malkin bounced back later in the game to level the score at 3 with a power play goal in the third period.
The Penguins now have four full days off before traveling west to play the San Jose Sharks on Thursday night. For more Penguins coverage, make Pensburgh a part of your regular reading rotation.