Leafs shutout by Penguins

Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for his second shutout of the season in the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 4-0 win against the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Air Canada Centre on Saturday.

Eric Fehr, playing his first game of the season and first with the Penguins (7-4-0) after missing time following elbow surgery, led the Pens with a goal and an assist as Pittsburgh opened a four-game road trip with its fourth consecutive victory.

The Penguins opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 13:33 of the first period. With Toronto center Byron Froese off for tripping, Pittsburgh left wing David Perron drove to the net with the puck and took a shot that went between the legs of Maple Leafs goalie Jonathan Bernier. The puck stopped on the goal line and was poked in by Chris Kunitz, who scored his second goal of the season.

Pittsburgh made it 2-0 with a shorthanded goal at 2:34 of the second. With Pascal Dupuis off for slashing, Fehr collected a rebound and put it past Bernier for his first goal of the season.

Pittsburgh center Matt Cullen extended the lead to 3-0 at 10:29 when he broke in 2-on-1 with Sergei Plotnikov. Cullen skated in on the right wing and put a shot past Bernier for his first of the season.

The Penguins scored again at 4:31 of the third period when Brian Dumoulin’s dump-in off the end boards was collected in front of the net by Patric Hornqvist, who beat Bernier for his second goal of the season.

Phil Kessel did not score in his return to Toronto, and neither did Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin.   The game marked the return to Toronto for Kessel, who was traded to the Penguins on July 1. Kessel led the Maple Leafs in scoring the past six seasons with 181 goals and 214 assists in 446 games. He had one shot on goal in 18:54.

Toronto fell to 1-7-2 and 0-3-1 at home.

Toronto coach Mike Babcock was not pleased with the way the Maple Leafs responded after falling behind: “Life is about responding to adversity and about doing things right. I believe we are a way better hockey club than that. You don’t have to blame any players. Look right here. The buck stops here. I’m responsible.”