Pittsburgh Penguins left wing Blake Comeau (right) and left wing Chris Kunitz (14) react after Comeau scored a goal against Toronto Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier (left) during the first period at the CONSOL Energy Center.Charles LeClaire
This was a hockey riddle for the ages on Wednesday night, one that could only be solved by dropping the puck.
What happens when the NHL's most dangerous first period team meets the most dangerous second period team?
Whoever is better the rest of the way wins the game?
That wasn't exactly how it played out in Pittsburgh on Wednesday, with a seesaw battle between the up-and-down Toronto Maple Leafs and the powerhouse Penguins going the distance.
The Leafs picked up a point, but almost earned two after a terrible start, playing very well for long stretches in a comeback that became a 4-3 overtime loss.
Blake Comeau did the honours for Pittsburgh in ringing up a hat trick for the Pens.
But what made the game so compelling is the script started predictably then abruptly changed.
One of the top teams in the league, Pittsburgh scored early – only 26 seconds in – and dominated play at even strength through 20 minutes, eventually getting a 2-0 lead when a bad David Clarkson penalty turned into a good Evgeni Malkin goal.
Already there were grumbles from the Leafs faithful online that it would be another long night and perhaps they should flip the TV off.
Instead, Toronto turned their game on, as they have in so many second periods this year.
Leading the way was their unlikely offensive juggernaut. Leo Komarov chipped in with Toronto's first two goals – his first multi-goal night of his career – and Tyler Bozak added a highlight reel marker on a shorthanded breakaway, which tied things at three going to the third.
"I thought we played pretty well for a lot of the night," Bozak concluded afterward. "Obviously when you get off to a start like that and get behind the 8-ball, it's always tough to crawl back, especially against a team like Pittsburgh."
The Leafs now lead the NHL with 30 second period goals and have allowed only 19, making that by far their best 20 minutes, which makes sense given how well their forward group counterattacks and takes advantage of the long change.
The new-look line of Komarov with Nazem Kadri and Mike Santorelli was the most threatening on the night overall, too, generating great speed and puck movement that helped create the two goals.
It was also more evidence that the Leafs can be a difficult team to handle when they have more than one line going. That should be more common now that they're healthy up front, too, with David Booth and Joffrey Lupul rejoining the lineup on Wednesday as part of a fourth line that is miles better than what they ran out last season.
"They're only going to get better for us," coach Randy Carlyle said of the newcomers, who both played under 12 minutes.
Toronto's biggest challenge in games like this is still limiting what the great teams' great players do, and that's a bigger challenge against the Penguins than most, obviously.
The Leafs knew coming in they couldn't stop Malkin and Sidney Crosby, not entirely. They hoped to merely contain them.
Minimize the damage and such.
But that didn't work.
Crosby had a fairly quiet two assists to become the sixth fastest player to reach 800 points, but he was also out there threatening when the winning goal went in.
Malkin, meanwhile, was dominant. He continued to run over the Leafs, putting up a goal and two assists in the game's first 33 minutes to push his career production against them to a ridiculous 50 points in 27 games.
The Leafs are often in tough in games like this, where they have a matchup issue with no easy answer.
Who will take Crosby is one thing. Who will take Malkin – especially when one Toronto defence pairing was down to Stephane Robidas and AHL call-up Korbinian Holzer due to injury – is another.
(The Leafs had possession of the puck only 28 per cent of the time when that pairing was on the ice, by the way.)
The best solution to the problem is to spread offence throughout their four lines and threaten that way. The NHL's salary cap has made that difficult for a lot of teams to do, but the Leafs made a couple smart bargain buys in the summer – Santorelli, Dan Winnik, David Booth, etc. – to give them real depth.
Their top two players may not be able to outplay Pittsburgh's top two many nights, but their seventh through 12th forwards certainly can with everyone healthy and given a chance.
Too often the Leafs have been afraid to give minutes to their depth lines. That wasn't the case on Wednesday, and it helped them skate with one of the better teams in the East.
If not for a bad start, it could have been two points that were well-earned instead of only one.
"It was a great effort," said Leafs netminder Jonathan Bernier, who did not have one of his better nights. "I thought we came out a little sloppy in the first but we bounced back. It's not an easy building; it's not an easy team."
"If we continue to build on playing road games like we played tonight, we give ourselves a heckuva chance to get points," Carlyle added. "That's for sure."