Veteran Penguins too much for young Leafs

PITTSBURGH - And now, back to reality

After an exhilarating, seven-goal outburst against many of Buffalo's farmhands at home on Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs faced a legitimate opponent at Mellon Arena Wednesday night and it showed. Despite missing injured players Sidney Crosby, Sergei Gonchar and Ryan Whitney, the Pittsburgh Penguins had more than enough experience and firepower to subdue the Leafs 3-2.

The Penguins dressed key forwards Evgeni Malkin, Jordan Staal, Max Talbot, Ruslan Fedotenko, Petr Sykora and Miro Satan. And though the Leafs also had a representative lineup, they were decidedly inferior to the defending Eastern Conference champions. The teams play a re-match at the Air Canada Centre Friday night.

It was the last of two home games for the Penguins in the pre-season. They leave from Toronto on Saturday for Europe to prepare for their regular-season opener, Oct. 4, against Ottawa at the Globe Arena in Stockholm.

Gonchar, who anchors the Penguins' power play with his passing and shooting skills, dislocated his shoulder against Tampa Bay in the club's exhibition opener Saturday, and will be sidelined indefinitely. Crosby has a sore groin and was held back as a precaution.

The Leafs, meanwhile, auditioned a number of their fresh faces Wednesday night.

Veteran Swedish league defenceman Jonas Frogren got off to an inauspicious start on his first shift as a Leaf when Talbot outmanoeuvred him in the corner to the left of goalie Justin Pogge. Frogren tripped Talbot and Pittsburgh opened the scoring on the ensuing power play when Sykora banked in a centring pass off the skate of defenceman Josef Boumedienne.

Frogren, 28, represents a wild card on the Toronto blue-line. Though it's certain the Leafs did not bring him over to roost in the minors, he nonetheless has to prove he can perform as a regular in the NHL. Given that Tomas Kaberle, Pavel Kubina, Mike Van Ryn, Jeff Finger and Anton Stralman have a virtual lock on five spots, the final regular position will be contested among Frogren, Carlo Colaiacovo, Ian White and Staffan Kronwall.

First-round draft pick Luke Schenn faced a number of players that competed in the Stanley Cup final last spring, and he looked shakier than he did against Buffalo's patchwork lineup. The Pittsburgh forwards - notably, Talbot - pressured him in the corners and Schenn coughed up the puck several times. Schenn, of course, is still just 18.

Boumedienne, for his part, made up for things, setting up Alexei Ponikarovsky as the Leafs launched a mini-comeback in the third period.

Mikhail Grabovski, who looked jittery with the puck in his first Leafs appearance - centreing Nik Antropov and Ponikarovsky - made a nifty move in traffic late to beat Pittsburgh goalie Dany Sabourin for Toronto's final goal.

Hopefully, for him, it will be what head coach Ron Wilson remembers, as a number of Grabovski's passes were off target; a stray feed during a second-period Toronto power play sent away Talbot and Matt Cooke on a 2-on-1 break.

Pogge can thank a couple of his defencemen if Wednesday night's full-game stint results in a one-way trip back to the American Hockey League. Pittsburgh's first two goals were virtual replays, as Sykora put one in off Boumendienne's skate, and Fedotenko made use of Stralman's blade on a pass through the crease. Both eluded Pogge and the visitors trailed 2-0 at 7:52 of the opening period.

Stralman had a rough night. He fell near the boards early in the second period, allowing Malkin and Staal to play tick-tack-toe in front of Pogge, who was at their mercy. Malkin's short-handed goal provided the Penguins a 3-0 lead.