Crosby scores 2 goals in Penguins’ win

TORONTO (AP)—Sidney Crosby(notes) scored two power-play goals, and Evgeni Malkin(notes) had three assists to help the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the winless Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 on Saturday night.

Crosby’s goals, both set up by Malkin, came in the second period to put the defending Stanley Cup champions up 4-1 and erase any hopes the hosts might have had of mounting a comeback.

Jordan Staal(notes), Matt Cooke(notes) and Sergei Gonchar(notes) also scored for the Penguins (4-1-0), who were coming off a grinding 5-4 win over Philadelphia on Thursday night as they continue a grueling stretch of five games in eight days. Marc-Andre Fleury(notes) stopped 18 shots to remain unbeaten.

Niklas Hagman(notes) and tough guy Jay Rosehill(notes), with the first of his career, replied for the Maple Leafs (0-3-1).

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sid…
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Pittsburgh Penguins center Sid…
AP - Oct 10, 9:46 pm EDT

Toronto Maple Leafs left winge…
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Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender…
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Pittsburgh Penguins center Jor…
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Vesa Toskala(notes), who made 28 saves and looked uncomfortable in goal for much of the night, received plenty of mock cheers from the disgruntled crowd of 19,374.

The Penguins led 2-0 and up 14-2 in shots after 20 minutes, and if not for a pair of fights—Colton Orr(notes) handled Eric Godard(notes), and Jamal Mayers(notes) bloodied Craig Adams(notes)—the Maple Leafs would have been totally invisible.

Cooke opened the scoring a minute after the Orr-Godard bout, whipping a wrist shot over Toskala’s glove from the slot at 3:20. Tyler Kennedy(notes) set the play up by stripping Jason Blake(notes) of the puck.

The Pens went up 2-0 at 10:23 when Gonchar slid a point shot through Toskala’s legs, capitalizing on a roughing penalty assessed to Orr for jumping Cooke at 8:51.

Two seconds after Gonchar’s goal, Mayers took down Adams.

Rosehill gave the Leafs some life by shoveling in Mayers’ centering pass at 2:01 of the second period, but an offensive-zone holding penalty by Matt Stajan(notes) 16 seconds later put that momentum on hold.

Fifteen seconds later, Crosby picked up the rebound off Malkin’s shot as it came off the boards and slipped it into an empty net to restore Pittsburgh’s two-goal edge.

The Penguins were back on the power play thanks to Rosehill’s boarding penalty when Crosby deflected a Malkin slap shot past Toskala at 14:31.

Hagman looked to have given the Maple Leafs a spark 1:01 into the third period when he banged in a rebound past Fleury, but that didn’t last long. Staal ripped Malkin’s pass from behind the net into the top corner past Toskala at 2:08, for a 5-2 Penguins lead.

NOTES: Dan Bylsma took over as Penguins coach a day after Pittsburgh and Toronto’s last regular-season clash, Feb. 14 at the Air Canada Centre. The Pens allowed five straight goals in the third period of a 6-2 loss that night, leading to the firing of Michel Therrien. … Penguins D Kris Letang(notes) was in the lineup after he was allegedly bitten on the right ring finger by Flyers F Scott Hartnell(notes). No discipline was issued on the matter because of inconclusive evidence.