Penguins come into Toronto off a tough loss

A set of numbers jump out from the Pittsburgh Penguins' loss to the New Jersey Devils on Friday night — 17-3.

That was the shots-on-goal total from the third period as the visiting Pens blew a 3-1 lead, allowing an overtime that ended with a Jamie Langenbrunner winner for Jersey.

This is not the way a supposedly desperate team is expected to play with points on the line and a divisional rival in their sights.

Pittsburgh had better be ready to close it if they get a lead on the hapless Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday night (CBC Sports, CBCSports.ca, 7 p.m. ET).

"You have to play right through and finish games off," said Pens captain Sidney Crosby, who had a goal and assist in the early going Friday.

"There was a lot of time left on the clock and they had a chance to tie it in a one-goal game, so we have to make sure we finish teams off."

This is a desperate group of flightless birds coming into Toronto, though you might not know it from the way they've played over their last 10 (5-4-1), and especially the recent swing of six road contests (1-4-1).

Much assurance has been prattled to the press about how this club is going to get it together and regain a proper place among the Eastern Conference leaders, but impatient fans are still waiting for the explosion.

Close to playoff spot

The Penguins are 24-21-5 overall, good for ninth place and a point back of a playoff spot with 32 games to go.

Hardly time for panic, but when Crosby and co-superstar Evgeni Malkin are the only ones scoring (they lead the league) and such previous stalwarts as Miroslav Satan (one goal in the past 19 games) are as cold as ice, concern does not seem misplaced.

Especially when you've given up the fifth highest goals-against in the conference (152), only ahead of such luminaries as the New York Islanders, Atlanta Thrashers and the Leafs.

Speaking of the blue and white, who will be honouring yet another famous name from the 42-year Stanley Cup drought era when Doug Gilmour's 93 goes to the rafters on Saturday, things continue along as both expected, and to be honest, hoped.

A nice win in Colorado against the struggling Avalanche on Thursday threw enough crumbs at the young players on the roster to keep their development moving along, while the 44 points earned (18-23-8) have the club right in the John Tavares sweepstakes.

Tavares, the consensus No. 1 pick in this summer's amateur draft, is the dream pick for long suffering Leaf fans. Their club is battling with five others to earn the most ping-pong balls in the draft lottery.

Toronto is 0-3-1 in its last four home contests and this will be the first time these two teams have played on Air Canada Centre ice after a pair in Pittsburgh.

Penguins won the first, 4-1, and Toronto took the second, 7-3.

Those seven goals, by the way, were tied for the highest offensive output this season with that win on Thursday out in the Rocky Mountains.

"We got some breaks for a change and took advantage of them" said coach Ron Wilson of the win over Colorado. "The little tweaks we made energized some of our players. It was fun to see."

Vesa Toskala will likely start in goal for Toronto after a 16-save victory on Thursday.

Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien has an interesting decision to make between Marc-Andre Fleury, who has started 12 straight for the Penguins in the net, and Mathieu Garon who has not seen action since a trade from Edmonton on Jan. 17.