Rickard Rakell scores twice, but Penguins fall to the Maple Leafs in overtime

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar 2, 2025

Published in Hockey

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — Rickard Rakell scored two goals Sunday in a wild game between the Penguins and the Toronto Maple Leafs at PPG Paints Arena. But after clawing out of two deficits, the Penguins lost, 6-5, in overtime. William Nylander got the winner for Toronto.

The Penguins somehow came out of a tumultuous opening period with a 3-2 lead.

Unlike the previous three games, the Penguins didn’t allow their opponent to score on their first shot Sunday. But they still fell into a 2-0 hole just 4:39 into the game.

Max Domi made it 1-0 on the fourth Leafs shot. Joel Blomqvist had a chance to cover a puck that skipped in on him from afar but instead misplayed it, causing a turnover. Just 2:16 later, the struggling rookie goalie let Conor Timmins beat him far-side with a wrist shot from a slim angle. That gave the Leafs two goals on their first eight shots.

Fortuitously for the Penguins, the Leafs’ goaltending was somehow even shakier.

Ryan Shea ripped a shot that nicked Cody Glass and went in past Joseph Woll. Just over one minute later, Rakell tied it when he capitalized on a crazy carom off the end boards. Sidney Crosby gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead with a power-play goal. He caught Woll sleeping, snapping a shot from the left circle through Woll’s wickets.

In the second period, Bryan Rust answered Auston Matthews’ goal to make it 4-3.

But in the late stages of that period, the Penguins allowed the visitors to bury a pair of breakaways. Matthew Knies got the second one right before the buzzer blared.

Erik Karlsson was involved in both of those breakdowns. On the first, John Tavares was able to sneak behind the defense as Karlsson and the Penguins trying to change personnel. The second breakaway goal came on Karlsson’s latest crippling mistake.

With 5.7 seconds remaining in the second period, Crosby cleanly won a faceoff in Toronto territory back to Karlsson at the left point. The mercurial Swede spun and made a lazy, no-look pass across the blue line toward Evgeni Malkin. Knies jumped it, raced down the ice and snapped a shot from above the circles past Blomqvist.

The two teams lingered by their benches as the NHL reviewed to see if his shot had beat the buzzer. Penguins fans booed when the goal remained on the scoreboard.

To their credit, the Penguins regrouped in the intermission. Ten seconds into the third period, Rakell got the second of his two goals, which would send the game to OT.

Around the boards

— Pierre-Olivier Joseph was sidelined by the injury he suffered in Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Boston Bruins. As of Sunday, there was no timetable for his potential return.

— With Joseph out, Ryan Graves got back in the lineup. Vladislav Kolyachonok is still waiting to make his Penguins debut. He has been made a healthy scratch six times.

— Going into the game, Mike Sullivan shuffled his forward lines. Among the tweaks was putting Philip Tomasino on the second line. Boko Imama was a healthy scratch.

— The Penguins have now allowed a goal in the first five minutes in 19 of 63 games.

— With his first-period goal, Rakell reached the 500-point plateau for his NHL career.

— Crosby tallied a goal and two assists. With the second of those helpers, he moved into 10th all-time in assists with 1,050. Gordie Howe was the legend he surpassed.

— There were no boos during either of the two national anthems before the game, though someone did yell “Shoot the puck!” near the end of the American anthem.

Coming up next

The Penguins will not practice Monday. It is a travel day. They will fly out to Denver, where a three-game road trip will begin Tuesday against the Colorado Avalanche.

____