Maple Leafs at Penguins
No team came out of the opening weekend of the NHL season looking more impressive than the Pittsburgh Penguins, who dispatched both of their top division rivals on back-to-back days. That Pittsburgh accomplished the feat on the road against the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers made it even more noteworthy. The Penguins look to ride the early wave into their home opener Wednesday, when they host the Toronto Maple Leafs. Pittsburgh already has scored nine goals - and none have come from Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.
Toronto's bid for a 2-0 start came up short when it dropped a 2-1 decision to the Buffalo Sabres in its home opener Monday. After scoring twice on the power play in a 2-1 victory at Montreal, the Maple Leafs converted only 1 of 7 chances with the man advantage and whiffed on a pair of 5-on-3 opportunities against the Sabres. The teams have split the last eight meetings, although Pittsburgh has won the last three at Consol Energy Center.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, TSN (Toronto), ROOT Sports (Pittsburgh)
ABOUT THE MAPLE LEAFS (1-1-0): Rookie Ben Scrivens, who entered the season with 11 career starts, has been in net for Toronto's first two games. With the Maple Leafs facing three games in four nights, including a back-to-back against Pittsburgh and the New York Islanders, James Reimer could get his first start in the next two nights - perhaps Wednesday. After a strong rookie campaign in which he went 20-10-5 with a 2.60 goals-against average, Reimer battled concussion-like symptoms last season and saw his numbers dip to 14-14-4 and 3.10.
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (2-0-0): Left wing James Neal appears bent on proving that his sensational 40-goal campaign in 2011-12 was not a fluke. Neal already has scored three goals, including a pair in Sunday's 6-3 win over the Rangers, and had seven shots on goal in each of the first two games. Pittsburgh's power play already is in midseason form, scoring four times in eight chances with the extra skater. While Malkin has yet to register his first goal, he's assisted on four of the Penguins' nine tallies. He has 38 points in 20 games against Toronto.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh has not opened the season with three consecutive wins since reeling off seven straight to kick off the 1994-95 campaign.
2. Maple Leafs C Nazem Kadri has a power-play goal in each of the first two games.
3. Crosby has 17 goals and 18 assists in 22 games versus Toronto.