Penguins at Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs hope to avoid a fifth consecutive loss when they host the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday. Toronto fell to 0-2-2 over its last four games with Monday's 5-3 setback in Buffalo but is riding a nine-game home winning streak.
Leo Komarov ended his 12-game drought by scoring a pair of goals in the loss by the Maple Leafs, who sit comfortably in third place in the Atlantic Division - 12 points ahead of Florida and seven behind Boston. Pittsburgh, which owns a one-point lead over Washington for first place in the Metropolitan, is riding a three-game winning streak after rolling to a 5-2 victory in Philadelphia on Wednesday. Conor Sheary scored twice while captain Sidney Crosby collected three assists to give him 1,100 points during his illustrious career. Evgeni Malkin recorded a goal and an assist versus the Flyers to increase his team-leading point total to 84 and give him eight during his four-game streak.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, AT&T SportsNet-Pittsburgh, CBC, Sportsnet, TVA, CITY (Toronto)
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (39-25-4): Malkin has landed on the scoresheet in 10 of his last 11 games, registering seven multi-point performances in that span. The 31-year-old Russian is a two-time Art Ross Trophy winner and is in the running for a third award as he trails Tampa Bay's Nikita Kucherov by only three points for the league lead. After losing Bryan Rust (upper body) and Dominik Simon (lower body) in Wednesday's victory, Pittsburgh recalled Josh Jooris from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (39-22-7): Matt Martin made the most of a rare night in the lineup Monday, notching his ninth assist of the season to tie his career high. The rugged 28-year-old left wing, who was a healthy scratch for Toronto's previous 18 games, was playing for the first time since Jan. 22. Mitch Marner scored a goal against the Sabres to pull within one of the career-high 19 he recorded as a rookie last season and increase his team-leading total to 54 points.
OVERTIME
1. Komarov has recorded only 15 points over his last 66 games after notching three in his first two contests this season.
2. Crosby is four assists away from 700 for his career.
3. Toronto has not lost at home since Jan. 22, when it dropped a 4-2 decision against Colorado.