Send this page to someone via email The Toronto Maple Leafs held their annual Canadian Armed Forces night as they hosted the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday night at Scotiabank Arena. Canadian soldiers were honoured in a video tribute before the game and the family of Cpl. Jeremy Hillson, who is serving in Iraq, was invited to centre ice to drop the puck. Hillson’s wife, Jen, along with their children Mason and Dakota were asked to perform the ceremonial puck drop. Major-General Omer Lavoie, a 36-year veteran of the Canadian Armed Forces, also took part in the puck drop as Hillson was still serving with the 3rd Royal Canadian Regiment in Iraq. As a video message was played from Hillson on the scoreboard, his wife Jen smiled and looked up, fighting back the emotions of seeing her husband. Story continues below advertisement Leafs alternate captain Morgan Rielly and Penguins captain Sidney Crosby skated to centre ice for the puck drop. A problem arose when Lavoie turned to Jen and asked: “do you have the puck?” — “no” — she replied with a laugh. Lavoie then turned to Rielly and Crosby who also chuckled as they said they didn’t have the puck either. Then cue the waterworks as Cpl. Hillson appeared, home from Iraq and walking out to centre ice with the puck. Hillson hugged his family and Jen was overcome with emotion. The entire arena seemed to be caught up in the heartwarming moment as even Leafs head coach Mike Babcock seemed choked up. Advertisement<doc-sep>Share this Story: GAMEDAY: Penguins at Maple Leafs GAMEDAY: Penguins at Maple Leafs Article content 7 P.M. Scotiabank Arena, TV: HNIC/Sportsnet RADIO: TSN 1050, THE BIG MATCH-UP We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or GAMEDAY: Penguins at Maple Leafs Back to video C Sidney Crosby vs. C John Tavares The previous meeting of these teams was not the shining moment for Crosby and the rest of the Pens, a 5-0 shutout loss on home ice where Tavares had a goal against his old Metro Division enemies. But 30-goal man Tavares remains a minus-14 vs. Pittsburgh in his career, his worst mark against any team. Crosby came off his MVP performance in the all-star game with a goal against Tampa Bay in Wednesday’s win. KEYS TO THE GAME 1. PENNING A NEW LINEUP In a move designed to toughen up for the stretch run and playoffs, Pittsburgh pulled a trade on Thursday for forwards Nick Bjugstad and Jared McCann. That and an injury to Evgeni Malkin left the team with scrambled lines and just 17 players to start Friday’s home game against Ottawa. The newcomers will be using the Toronto game as part of their orientation. Pittsburgh had won a post-break, fight-filled game with the conference-leading Bolts on Wednesday. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content 2. WELCOME HOME, MUZZ On the same note, it’s Jake Muzzin’s first home game since the trade. Leafs fans are pumped, but tracking Crosby and a team Muzzin rarely sees will be a challenge for the newcomer on defence. 3. MALKIN SITTING Malkin’s absence after taking a heavy hit against Tampa takes 62 points in 37 games against Toronto out of the lineup. This will be ex-Leaf Phil Kessel’s 30th game versus T.O. as a Penguin and Bruin, but so far the damage has been limited to nine goals in those games. 4. FIRST THINGS FIRST Both clubs played Friday night, but coming off the break, neither should be too tired at puck drop. The Leafs had struggled at home prior to entering their long hiatus, before beating the Caps to take some heat off players such as Jake Gardiner and William Nylander. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content 5. HIT PARADE According to NHL stats, the Penguins lead the league with 1,457 hits to Toronto’s next-to-last 828. Even if those numbers are way off, Muzzin should help the Leafs in that category. MAPLE LEAFS GAME DAY LINES FORWARDS Patrick Marleau-Auston Matthews-Mitch Marner Zach Hyman-John Tavares-Kasperi Kapanen Connor Brown-Nazem Kadri-William Nylander Par Lindholm-Frederick Gauthier-Andreas Johnsson DEFENCE PAIRINGS Jake Muzzin-Morgan Rielly Jake Gardiner Nikita Zaitsev Travis Dermott-Ron Hainsey GOALIES Frederik Andersen Garret Sparks Sick Bay RW Tyler Ennis (ankle) PENGUINS GAME DAY LINES FORWARDS Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Dominik Simon Bryan Rust-M. Cullen/N. Bjugstad-Phil Kessel Tanner Pearson-Jared McCann-Patric Hornqvist Garrett Wilson-Matt Cullen-Teddy Blueger DEFENCE PAIRINGS Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang Olli Maatta-Juuso Riikola Marcus Pettersson-Jack Johnson GOALIES Matt Murray Casey DeSmith SICK BAY D Justin Schultz (leg) C Zach Aston-Reese (hand) C Evgeni Malkin (upper body) SPECIAL TEAMS POWER PLAY Toronto 22.1% (9th) Pittsburgh 24.3% (7th) PENALTY KILLING Toronto 81.1% (11th) Pittsburgh 82.8% (8th) Share this article in your social network Latest National Stories Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The Toronto Sun Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Toronto SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address. By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. 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Corporal Jeremy Hillson threw us all for quite a loop on Saturday night. With thousands at Scotiabank Arena to see the Toronto Maple Leafs host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Night, as well as around a million more watching Hockey Night in Canada’s live broadcast, Hillson delivered a video message that was played on the arena’s Jumbotron before his wife and young family were to drop the puck for a ceremonial faceoff. Hillson’s video and his family’s presence at the game represented all the members of the armed forces that were unable to attend the evening, and the annual tradition within the organization dating back to Conn Smythe’s days as the general manager of the team. There was just one problem when the ceremonial faceoff was meant to take place: nobody had a puck. Pittsburgh’s captain Sidney Crosby, Toronto’s Morgan Rielly and members of the Hillson family got a pretty good laugh out of the crowd when their problem became apparent. Thankfully, someone came to their rescue. On the @MapleLeafs' Canadian Armed Forces appreciation night, Corporal Jeremy Hillson returned from Iraq to surprise his family for the ceremonial puck drop. 👏 pic.twitter.com/TkSxGsDez1 — Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) February 3, 2019 It took a little bit of time for his family to realize exactly who was walking down the blue carpet with a piece of vulcanized rubber in hand. However, once they did, there were few dry eyes in the building or around television sets from coast-to-coast. Even Maple Leafs head coach Mike Babcock was visibly impacted by the touching moment. Honestly, I’ve watched the video about a dozen times now and it’s still doing a number on me. It really was a kind, classy gesture by the Leafs organization to begin a very special evening in Toronto. Story continues We can only hope that the players involved in the game were able to battle through the cloudy vision that a few tears shed might have caused early in the contest. Cpl Jeremy Hillson and his family provided hockey fans across Canada with a beautiful moment on Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Night at Scotiabank Arena. (Sportsnet//Twitter) More NHL coverage on Yahoo Sports: