Dermott, Sparks propel Maple Leafs past Penguins

TORONTO --Travis Dermott had a goal and an assist for the Toronto Maple Leafs in a 3-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Scotiabank Arena on Saturday.

Auston Matthews and Zach Hyman scored, and Jake Gardiner had two assists for the Maple Leafs (31-17-3), who are 2-2-1 in their past five games. Garret Sparks made 28 saves.
"We just kept working, I thought we were playing pretty well," Hyman said. "We just stuck with it, and it's important when you get behind like that against a good team you don't give them anything else, and Garret was great so it was good."
WATCH: [All Penguins vs. Maple Leafs highlights]
Sidney Crosby and Teddy Blueger scored, and Matt Murray made 30 saves for the Penguins (28-18-6), who had won two in a row.
"I thought our first period was pretty good," Crosby said. "We hit a post and we didn't go up 3-0 and they scored a shift or two later and got some momentum going into the second. I thought in the second we got outplayed."
Hyman gave the Maple Leafs a 3-2 lead at 16:06 of the second period when he put in a rebound off a shot from Morgan Rielly.
"Just in front of the net trying to get a rebound and fighting for space there," Hyman said. "I'm happy I got one by."

The Penguins took a 1-0 lead at 10:01 of the first period when Crosby one-timed a pass from Kris Letang from the right face-off dot on the power play.
Blueger scored for the second straight game to make it 2-0 at 13:20 when he got to a loose puck at the left face-off dot and shot over Sparks' glove.

"I thought our team at that point -- I really thought we were playing well -- we had the puck a lot and we were just down 2-0 so we just stayed the course and we able to get it done," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said.
Matthews brought the Maple Leafs within 2-1 at 17:25, putting in a rebound at the side of the net off a point shot from Dermott.
"We seemed to have our legs tonight, especially early on," Matthews said. "That's always a key for us, playing fast and not giving them space obviously against a good team like that with star players."

Dermott tied it 2-2 at 9:36 of the second period. Patrick Marleau won a face-off against Crosby back to Gardiner, who passed to Dermott for a one-timer.
"Momentum swings here and there were key, probably a couple of lost battles," Blueger said. "We maybe got outbattled in our zone in front of the net and gave up a couple rebounds. That's kind of how the game goes, momentum shifts going our way and then their way. Unfortunately we weren't able to score at the end but I thought we had a good push in the third."

They said it

"Probably just the net-front battles, I think. They played a hard game at our net front and defended well at theirs. That was the difference in the game, I think." -- Penguins goalie Matt Murray
"Yeah, when you win one or two you kind of get on a role. You don't know if you should switch things up or not and it becomes kind of a chess match. It was a good night though and I had some help from the wingers too so that was big." -- Maple Leafs forward Patrick Marleau on going 9-for-14 (64 percent) on face-offs

Need to know

Crosby was 5-for-19 on face-offs (26 percent). … Babcock said forward Tyler Ennis, who has been out since December 22 with a broken ankle, skated well in testing Saturday morning. He said Ennis is saying he is ready but Babcock would not put a timeline on his return. … The Maple Leafs placed defenseman Martin Marincin on waivers Saturday. … It was Sparks' first game since Jan. 18 and first win since Dec. 28, 4-2 at the Columbus Blue Jackets.

What's next

Penguins:Host the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday (7 p.m. ET; ATTSN-PT, FS-CR, NHL.TV)
Maple Leafs: Host the Anaheim Ducks on Monday (7 p.m. ET; TSN4, PRIME, NHL.TV)