Sidney Crosby scores 10th in Penguins win

PITTSBURGH-- The Pittsburgh Penguins leaned on goalie Matt Murray early before taking advantage of the fatigued Toronto Maple Leafs.
Murray made 35 saves, and the Penguins scored four goals in a row to defeat the Maple Leafs 4-1 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Murray, who has won his four starts this season, played after backing up goalie Marc-Andre Fleury against the Minnesota Wild on Thursday. Neither Murray nor Fleury has started three consecutive games since Murray returned from a broken hand on Nov. 2.

WATCH: All Maple Leafs vs. Penguins highlights
Murray's most impressive stretch came during a Penguins power play with 4:27 remaining in the second period, when he made saves on three shorthanded 2-on-1s.
"That's my job, to try to make the saves at the right time," Murray said. "You bail [your teammates] out when they need it, and then they came out hot in the third and we scored three goals."
Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen made 45 saves one night after making 30 in a 6-3 win against the Philadelphia Flyers. He faced 35 shots in the final two periods Saturday.
"I felt fine," Andersen said. "We won the game last night and didn't give up too much in the last half. That allowed me to go out there fresh today."

Murray complimented Andersen's ability to keep Toronto within striking distance.
"Eventually, it was just too much for them to handle," Murray said. "Their goalie played unbelievable. It could have been a lot higher scoring."
The Penguins (10-3-2) took a 2-1 lead on Chris Kunitz's goal with 17.7 seconds remaining in the second period. Defenseman Ian Cole drove to the net and attempted to go forehand to backhand but whiffed. The puck slid into the crease, where Bryan Rust tried to jam it through traffic before it moved on to Kunitz, whose wrist shot found its way past the goal line for his second of the season.
Rust extended the lead to 3-1 6:58 into the third. Sidney Crosby, who has 10 goals in nine games this season, scored at 10:14 to build a 4-1 lead.
The Maple Leafs (6-6-3) took a 1-0 lead when Zach Hyman scored 1:22 into the first period. Hyman has scored in consecutive games after failing to score in his first 13 this season.
The Penguins took advantage of their second power play with a goal by Evgeni Malkin that tied it 1-1 3:06 into the second period. The goal was Malkin's eighth of the season.

Goal of the game

After receiving a pass from Crosby, Rust took a snap shot that Andersen saved. Rust collected the rebound and wrapped a wrist shot around Andersen's left pad for his third-period goal.

Save of the game

Andersen helped the Maple Leafs remain within one goal 4:28 into the third period. Kris Letang passed to Kessel near the left circle, where he took one shot off of defenseman Matt Hunwick's stick that caused Andersen to dive to the ice. Kessel regained possession and shot again, but Andersen dove again to absorb the puck and keep the lead at 2-1.

Highlight of the game

With Maple Leafs defenseman Frank Corrado in the penalty box for interference 2:21 into the second period, Malkin took 45 seconds to score the Penguins' first goal. Letang shot off the end boards and the puck bounced to Malkin, who dropped to his knees and put in a shot before defenseman Nikita Zaitsev could turn around to potentially clear it.

Unsung moment of the game

The Penguins controlled much of the first period but couldn't score. They entered the second period trailing 1-0 but built momentum off two early power plays that helped them take the first six shots in the period.

They said it

"One of the areas that we have to go to more often and more consistently is the net front, getting to the blue paint and making it hard on our opponents' goaltenders, and trying to get in the sight lines and being in the position to battle for loose pucks. I thought a couple of the goals tonight were examples of that." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

"Everyone's been there, you know, back-to-back games. Going into the third, it's not always easy. So I thought we did a good job of keeping our foot on the gas and applying pressure." -- Penguins forward Sidney Crosby
"I thought our fatigue showed in the third period. Our goalie was good and we gave up two, what I think, are bad goals. … We gave up too many chances with our [defensive]-zone play. We have to fix that, obviously." -- Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock

Need to know

Penguins forward Tom Kuhnhackl played 11:09 after being a healthy scratch in the previous five games. … Hunwick returned from a lower-body injury that caused him to miss seven games. He played 20:30 and had an assist.

What's next

Maple Leafs: Host the Nashville Predators on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; TVA Sports, SNO, FS-TN, NHL.TV)
Penguins: At the Washington Capitals on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TVA Sports, SN, NHL.TV)