Penguins mistakes lead to Maple Leafs goals; Pens lose 4-2

Toronto Maple Leafs' William Nylander, left, works around Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Toronto Saturday, Dec. 17, 2016.

TORONTO — This article originally appeared on PittsburghHockeyNOW.com.

The Pittsburgh Penguins (1-2-0) have been characteristically inconsistent to begin the 2024-25 NHL season. One bad game. One good game. And, on Saturday, one game entirely in the middle.

Their middle game was not good enough as the Toronto Maple Leafs (2-1-0) scored a pair of goals within 2:03 early in the second period, and Mitch Marner scored a breakaway goal earlier in the third period for a 4-2 Toronto win at Scotiabank Arena.

The Penguins made it interesting later in the third period when Evgeni Malkin earned assist No. 801 with a rush, drop pass to Rickard Rakell, and center drive to create a screen. Rakell (1) snapped a wrister past Toronto goalie Anthony Stolarz at 12:29.

However, the Penguins could not get the tying goal, try as they did with a couple of net-front scrums.

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