Music: {allcanada} Pittsburgh (37-21-6) at Toronto (27-27-9)

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

{allcanada} Pittsburgh (37-21-6) at Toronto (27-27-9)

TV: VS., TSN

7:00 pm EST Wed Mar 2, 2011

The Pittsburgh Penguins finally came to life offensively in a win in Toronto over the weekend. Thanks to a scheduling quirk, they'll get a chance to duplicate that effort in the very same surroundings in their next game.

The Penguins return to the Air Canada Centre on Wednesday night looking to extend their recent domination of the Maple Leafs.

Pittsburgh (37-21-6), fourth in the Eastern Conference, has been off since a 6-5 shootout victory at Toronto on Saturday, its fourth win in the last five meetings and third straight at Air Canada Centre.

While the Penguins are in the midst of a five-game road stretch, they went home for their three days off before heading back to Toronto. Considering how productive offensively they were Saturday, they should be more than happy with the return trip.

Alex Kovalev (notes) scored in regulation and had the only goal in the shootout, while Mark Letestu (notes), Dustin Jeffrey (notes), Max Talbot (notes) and Mike Rupp also had regulation goals for Pittsburgh, 3-6-2 in its last 11.

The Penguins, who stopped a four-game losing streak, hadn't scored more than three goals in their previous 10 games before Saturday.

"We definitely put up a few goals and found a way to win the game," center Jordan Staal (notes) said Monday. "It's always nice when you get that offensive punch."

Pittsburgh's five regulation goals were its most since a 5-2 win in Montreal on Jan. 12. The Penguins have scored 15 goals in their last three games in Toronto.

"They play a net-crash game," said Toronto coach Ron Wilson, whose team is on a season-best seven-game point streak. "We just weren't quite able to cope with that for whatever reason. (We were) sloppy, they had too much time."

Wilson hopes to have his team better prepared for the rematch.

Unlike the Penguins, the Maple Leafs (27-27-9) have played another game since Saturday, losing to Atlanta 3-2 in overtime the next afternoon.

Toronto, in the mix for one of the final playoff spots in the East, built a 2-0 first-period lead on goals from Nikolai Kulemin (notes) and Phil Kessel (notes), but the Leafs were outshot 32-12 the rest of the way.

"We couldn't generate anything," goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere (notes) said. "We were lackadaisical."

The Maple Leafs blew the lead after goaltender James Reimer (notes) left early in the second period following a hit to the helmet by the knee of Atlanta's Evander Kane (notes).

Reimer stopped all 18 shots he faced, while Giguere, a bit rusty after being out since Feb. 16 due to a lower-body injury, gave up three goals on 25 shots.

Reimer's injury is not considered serious, and the rookie was back at practice Tuesday.

That's good news for the Maple Leafs, as Reimer has helped spark their playoff push by going 4-0-2 with a 2.18 goals-against average in his last seven games. He wasn't at his best against the Penguins over the weekend, however, making 35 saves but perhaps wearing down after facing 40 shots through overtime.

"I was feeling pretty tired toward the end of the game," he said.

Reimer's counterpart, Marc-Andre Fleury (notes), was also a little shaky. He allowed two goals to Joffrey Lupul (notes) and one each to Colby Armstrong (notes), Clarke MacArthur (notes) and Dion Phaneuf (notes).