Pens' Fall To Maple Leafs, 4-3

Coming into the Pittsburgh Penguins' first post-Christmas game against the Toronto Maple Leafs last night at Mellon Arena, Pens' head coach Dan Bylsma hadn't been happy about the team's recent defensive play.

After some shoddy work against New Jersey early in the week, then 47 shots against by the Ottawa Senators mid-week, he had fair reason to be concerned.

And that was before considering the number of pucks the Maple Leafs typically put on goal. Despite the fact that they are muddling around 8th place in the conference, Toronto came into the contest leading the league in average shots on goal per game (around 34).

Saying all that, had I known before last night's game that Pittsburgh would have held the Blue and White to 27 shots, I would have thought the Penguins would emerge victorious.

Thanks to a late goal with under 90 seconds to play by Maple Leafs' defenseman Ian White -- which provided the final margin of victory in their 4-3 win -- Toronto had other things in mind.

Pittsburgh started off slow in the first period last night, and paid for it when they got behind the 8-ball on an early goal by Toronto defenseman Luke Shenn -- his first of the season.

Shenn threw a point shot past a screened Marc-Andre Fleury that went in off the far post.

Matt Cooke evened the contest later in the period when he beat Toronto goaltender Vesa Toskala on the far side on a 2-on-1 rush.

Forward Lee Stempniak put Toronto up by one again with a power play goal before the period expired. It was the 9th game in the last 12 that the Penguins have allowed a man-advantage goal to their opponent.

In the second frame, the teams traded goals, with Sidney Crosby notching his 23rd of the year for Pittsburgh -- also on the power play -- and Jason Blake beating Fleury between the legs on a relatively weak shot from high in the slot to put the Maple Leafs back up by one going into the third period.

While Fleury probably wished he had that goal back, he was strong in the third period and kept the Penguins in the game until they tied the score at 3 on a goal by Mike Rupp -- his 10th of the year -- with about 2 minutes to go.

But White's laser, top-corner slap shot goal from about 45 feet less than a minute later squashed the Penguins' hope of turning what looked like it was going to be a loss into one point -- and perhaps two.

And with that, the Penguins begin a 4-game road trip with a sour taste in their mouth, starting Tuesday in Buffalo and continuing Wednesday in New Jersey, before embarking to Florida to match up on back-to-back days against the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning this weekend.

We'll see if Pittsburgh bounces back strong this week, as they did when they pounded the Senators a few days ago after losing a disappointing game to New Jersey last Monday.

NOTES:

Penguins RW Tyler Kennedy was a healthy scratch last night, as Eric Godard returned to the lineup for Pittsburgh. Kennedy, with only one goal in his last 13 games -- and that one in his first game back -- has struggled since. Max Talbot skated in his place on the third line with Jordan Staal and Cooke.