TORONTO — Through nine games this season, Brock McGinn had very little to show for his efforts. Just one goal and plenty of frustration.
It's been a different story for McGinn of late, especially after he scored the go-ahead goal Friday to lift the Penguins to a 4-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at Scotiabank Arena, Pittsburgh's second consecutive win following a seven-game losing streak.
With the teams tied at 2 after 40 minutes, Danton Heinen created a turnover, chased down the puck and fed McGinn in the left circle. That's when McGinn ripped a shot that bounced off Maple Leafs goaltender Erik Kallgren to push the Penguins ahead for good.
It was a smart setup from Heinen, whose season has had an opposite trajectory. After one goal and no assists through nine, McGinn now has two goals and five points in his last five. Heinen, meanwhile, had three goals and six points in his first five games, and now nothing in his past eight.
While enduring plenty of frustrating third periods during the losing streak, the Penguins flipped the script in this one, mostly shutting the Leafs down over the final 20 minutes. Toronto mustered just four shots in the third.
Early in the second period, Casey DeSmith came up big and bailed out his defense after Pittsburgh permitted a two-on-none. From there, Evgeni Malkin and Jason Zucker staked the Penguins to a 2-1 lead.
The feed was a nifty one from Malkin, the Russian center spinning and sending a backhand pass to a wide-open Zucker. From the inner-edge of the right circle, Zucker uncorked a powerful shot for a goal at 1:08 of the period. It was his fourth of the season and second in as many games, continuing his terrific start.
Pittsburgh's lead remained for much of the second period, despite Toronto carrying the play for long stretches, but it couldn't survive a Kris Letang penalty for tripping late in the frame.
It actually looked like Toronto might've hopped in front when right wing William Nylander deked DeSmith and had a glorious power-play chance ... but wound up hitting the inside of the far post at 16:10.
A little more than a minute later, Nylander executed a beautiful back-and-forth sequence with defenseman Morgan Rielly and blasted a one-timer from the left circle at 17:17, tying the score at 2-2.
Toronto’s best early first-period chance came on a stretch pass that set up right wing Denis Malgin, but it turned out to be his linemate, former Penguin Zach Aston-Reese, who broke the ice and gave the home team an early 1-0 lead.
Battling with Letang in front, Aston-Reese found himself in excellent position, turned and fired a loose puck past DeSmith for his second goal of the season at 13:49 of the opening period.
The Leafs’ lead didn’t last long, as Malkin atoned for a couple early penalties by scoring his sixth goal of the season, which continued his career-long dominance over the Maple Leafs.
Chad Ruhwedel’s wrist shot from atop the zone clanked off Rickard Rakell. Malkin took advantage of the fact that Toronto goaltender Erik Kallgren lost track of the puck, finishing easily into a wide-open cage.
Among active players, nobody averages more than Malkin’s 1.61 points per game against Toronto. That’s also Malkin’s best per-game average against any team, and he has now scored 24 goals in 41 games against the Maple Leafs.
Jake Guentzel added an empty-netter late. He now has goals in four straight.
ICE CHIPS
— It looked after Friday’s morning skate that Pierre-Olivier Joseph — who was a full participant after leaving Wednesday’s 4-1 victory at Washington early in the second period — would play. However, Joseph did not take warmup and missed the game with a lower-body injury. With Joseph out, Ruhwedel started the game on the left side of the third pairing next to Jan Rutta. Brian Dumoulin opened to the left of Jeff Petry, and the top pair of Marcus Pettersson and Letang remained intact.
— Earlier in the day, the Penguins announced the recall of Mark Friedman from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Friedman, who played a career-high 26 games with the NHL club last season, had two assists in 10 games in the AHL. Sam Poulin, who had an assist and a minus-3 rating in three NHL games, went down to make room.
— Apparently upset with a penalty called on him a few minutes earlier, Malkin celebrated his goal by making a mock call for tripping at one of the officials.
— The Penguins are now 5-2 in their last seven games against Toronto, 19-10-2 in their last 31 against them. Friday represented their first win in Canada since a 2-0 victory over Ottawa on Feb. 10, 2022.
STAT ’N ‘AT
— 300: Zucker’s goal gave him 300 career points. He’s now the 19th member of his draft class (2010) to get to 300. Zucker’s 159 career goals are the 12th-most of anyone in his class.
UP NEXT
The Penguins conclude their road trip with a game against the Montreal Canadiens at Bell Centre on Saturday.
