The Penguins got a look at the future when they played Toronto Saturday night, and probably were impressed.
But while the Maple Leafs, whose lineup is studded with terrific young talent, figure to be a force in coming years, the Penguins are one of the dominant clubs in the NHL now.
And it showed.
They spotted Toronto a 1-0 lead, then ran off four unanswered goals in a 4-1 victory at PPG Paints Arena to run their record to 10-3-2.
Before the game, Penguins winger Eric Fehr characteriSed the Maple Leafs as “some young guys showing off some skill,” and Toronto clearly has the makings of a quality club.
Gifted young forwards like Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, among others, make up the core of a team with the potential to develop into a legitimate power over the next few winters.
“Good young team,” Penguins defenseman Trevor Daley said.
Just not good enough yet, at least on this night.
The Penguins are on an 8-0-1 roll against Toronto, in part because they often spend most of the game playing with a lead.
But although they had scored first in 10 of their previous 12 meetings with the Maple Leafs, the Penguins yielded the opening goal this time.
Zach Hyman, who had endured a 13-game goal-less stretch before getting one in Toronto’s 6-3 victory against Philadelphia Friday, deflected a Matt Hunwick pass by Penguins goalie Matt Murray at 1:22 of the opening period for a 1-0 advantage.
Hyman scored by fending off Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta and, with his back to the net, deflecting Hunwick’s pass between his own legs before it eluded Murray.
Maple Leafs goalie Frederik Andersen had a strong first period, but the Penguins finally solved him on a power play at 3:06 of the second.
Toronto defenseman Frank Corrado was serving an interference minor when Evgeni Malkin, straddling the goal line to the right of the net, collected the rebound of a Kris Letang shot off the back boards and tucked it into the net for his eighth of the season.
Patric Hornqvist picked up the second assist on that goal, Malkin’s 12th in 16 career home games against the Maple Leafs.
The Penguins barely survived another try with the extra man late in the period _ Toronto had at least three quality scoring chances while Nikita Zaitsev was serving a delay-of-game minor assessed at 15:33 _ but managed to go in front for good as the second was winding down.
With just 17.7 seconds to go before intermission, left winger Chris Kunitz corralled a loose puck and flipped it past Andersen for his second of the season.
Bryan Rust and Ian Cole received the assists.
Right winger Phil Kessel, a Toronto alum, had a couple of chances to pad the Penguins’ lead 4{ minutes into the third, but failed to capitalize on either. He neglected to lift the puck on both tries, and Hunwick stopped the first and Andersen the second.
Bryan Rust made it 3-1 little more than two minutes later on an excellent individual effort, however.
After Andersen stopped his shot from inside the left circle, Rust tracked down the rebound and swept it into the net from in front at 6:58. The goal, Rust’s second, yielded assists for Sidney Crosby and Conor Sheary.
Crosby assured the outcome at 10:14, steering in a Brian Dumoulin point shot from the left side of the crease for his 10th in nine games. The second assist went to Letang.