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Crosby, Malkin lead Pens over Leafs

Oct 12, 2014 - 5:56 AM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby each notched a goal and two assists as the Pittsburgh Penguins thumped the Toronto Maple Leafs, 5-2, on Saturday.

Patric Hornqvist had a goal and an assist while Chris Kunitz and Brandon Sutter also lit the lamp for the Penguins, who had opened the season with a victory over Anaheim. Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 23 shots in the victory.

"You want to be sharp in every area but I think for the most part we have a good idea of what we need to do," said Crosby. "It will continue to evolve as we play more with each other."

Joffrey Lupul and Tyler Bozak each scored a goal for the Maple Leafs, who had opened the season with a loss to Montreal on Wednesday. Jonathan Bernier was tagged with all five goals on 41 shots in the loss.

"We can all share the blame in this one," said Lupul. "We took some bad penalties and let them score, and was unable to get any momentum back to make a push."

The Penguins got on the board just 6:44 in on Hornqvist's second of the season, and made it a 2-0 game exactly one minute later on the power play.

A shot from the right point by Kris Letang went wide of the net, but hit off the back boards and popped out to the left where Crosby was waiting to snap it in for his third of the young season.

At the 17:46 mark of the first, the Pens made it a 3-0 game while on a 5-on-3 power play as Crosby threw a short pass from the low right circle towards the front of the net where Kunitz tipped it in for his first of the season.

Toronto had a goal waived off just under two minutes into the second as David Clarkson redirected a shot into the net with a high stick, but the team did get on the board two minutes later.

Skating on the man advantage, Morgan Rielly sent a pass from the top of the left circle to the inside slot where Lupul redirected it over the glove of Fleury for his first of the year.

Pittsburgh, though, got the goal back with 6:14 to play in the second while on the man advantage as Malkin snapped a shot on net from the top of the left circle that hit off a Leaf stick on its way past Bernier.

Sutter backhanded home a rebound in front at 8:26 of the third to give the Pens a four-goal lead.

Toronto notched a marker on the power play on Bozak's wrister from the inside left circle.

Game Notes

The Penguins host the Stars on Thursday ... Toronto plays in New York against the Rangers on Sunday ... Pittsburgh won two of three from Toronto last season ... The Penguins went 3-for-5 on the man advantage while the Maple Leafs were 2-for-5.