Penguins snap skid against Maple Leafs

Pittsburgh scored three power-play goals against penalty-prone Toronto.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Sidney Crosby's over here, Evgeni Malkin's over there. There's one way to lose consistently to the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that's give them too many chances on the power play.
The Toronto Maple Leafs did that, and with a predictable result.
Sergei Gonchar scored the go-ahead goal and set up another by Malkin and the Penguins scored three power-play goals, ending a five-game losing streak by beating the penalty-prone Maple Leafs 4-1 Friday night.
Crosby ended a two-game scoreless streak by assisting on three goals, giving him an NHL-leading 58 points in 34 games and 26 points in December. The 19-year-old Crosby has had only one streak of three games without a point since coming into the league last season.
Rare loss
The Maple Leafs, with former Penguins goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin in goal, lost in Pittsburgh for the first time in eight games since Nov. 1, 2001, mostly because they gave Pittsburgh 10 power-play chances.
"We just can't stay out of the penalty box," Toronto coach Paul Maurice said.
The Penguins have scored five power-play goals in two games since breaking out of a 2-for-35 slump with the man advantage.
Or, as in the case of Gonchar's sixth goal, a two-man advantage. With Bryan McCabe and Mats Sundin off after drawing penalties 16 seconds apart, Gonchar powered a one-timer from the point off Aubin's blocker and into the net. It was Gonchar's first goal and first point since his two-goal, five-point game Dec. 13 against Philadelphia.
"They've got a great power play, and if you give them a bunch of chances they're going to put it in," Aubin said. "They've got a bunch of good players, and they make plays."
The Maple Leafs, playing without forward Darcy Tucker (bruised foot), lost their fourth in five games despite Mats Sundin's 16th goal -- the only one of their 31 shots to get past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. Sundin's 36th goal in 47 career games against Pittsburgh was the 512th of his career, tying him with Gil Perreault for 31st place in NHL history.
Goals
Gonchar's goal came less than a minute in the third period and made it 2-1. About 6 minutes later, with Pittsburgh on another power play, Gonchar faked a slap shot from the point and slid the puck to Malkin to the side of the net for the rookie's 18th goal.
"We made it a goal to shoot more [on the power play], because when you shooting you're creating a lot of scoring chances," Gonchar said. "I talked to the coach [Michel Therrien] and that's what we concentrated on. He told me to put the puck on the net more and that's my goal from now on."
Sundin was unhappy with the hooking call given him, but said that didn't explain Toronto's 13 penalties or why they the Leafs are an uncommonly low 22nd in penalty killing.
"The call on me was not a penalty, I was reaching for the puck," Sundin said of his hooking penalty. "That being said, you can't commit that many penalties. I thought we played a good game 5-on-5, but when you take that many penalties, even if you play well 5-om-5, they're going to score 5-on-3 or 5-on-4."
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