Maple Leafs hold off Penguins, 5-4

TORONTO (AP) — Jason Blake beat Mathieu Garon with a wrist shot with 9:55 left and the Toronto Maple Leafs held on to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4 Saturday night.

Blake scored for the fourth straight game to cap a festive night at Air Canada Centre that started with the Maple Leafs honoring former captain Doug Gilmour.

Ian White, Nik Antropov, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Matt Stajan also scored goals for Toronto. Miroslav Satan, Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Tyler Kennedy scored for Pittsburgh, currently out of playoff position in the Eastern Conference.

The Maple Leafs had a 3-1 lead at the start of the third period, but Crosby set off a scoring spree with a goal 55 seconds in. After Stajan put Toronto ahead 4-2, Malkin and Kennedy tied it for Pittsburgh.

That set the stage for Blake’s team-leading 17th goal of the season. He has seven goals in seven games and has already eclipsed his total from last season.

It ensured a happy ending on a night that featured several tributes to Gilmour.

The best player in blue and white might have been Luke Schenn, who couldn’t have picked a much better time to exert himself. The rookie defenseman made his presence felt at both ends of the ice just hours after the team announced that Tomas Kaberle will be out four weeks because of a broken bone in his right hand.

The teenager will be among those carrying more of a load in Kaberle’s absence and the early returns were good. He levelled Malkin with a big hit, held his own in a fight with Kennedy and made a nice play on Stajan’s goal in the third period.

Garon was making his first start since being acquired in a trade from Edmonton on Jan. 16 and surrendered a goal 5:23 into the game. He was unable to get his blocker on White’s hard backhander from the slot.

It wasn’t long before Satan evened the score. The Penguins winger skated up the left side and fired a shot that appeared to deflect off Anton Stralman’s stick before getting by Vesa Toskala at 9:03.