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TORONTO -- Confidence was running high moments after the Toronto Maple Leafs sealed an overtime victory over the defending Stanley Cup champions.We played about as good as we could tonight, said defenseman Jake Gardiner, who scored the winner in Torontos 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. But it also shows we can play with anybody.Gardiner scored 2 minutes into overtime after being set up by Mitch Marner, whose shot just shuffled past defenseman Derrick Pouliot in front. Nikita Zaitsev also scored for Toronto.The Leafs had dropped three straight -- including the last two by shootout -- and six of the previous seven games (1-3-3) despite outshooting and often outplaying the opposition. A 41-shot barrage against Mike Smith and the Arizona Coyotes ended in a 3-2 shootout defeat on Thursday night.The young Maple Leafs outshot the defending Stanley Cup champions 49-34 and got 33 saves from Frederik Andersen.Shot counts have been through the roof, Torontos Nazem Kadri said when asked about the Leafs inability to score in recent weeks. Lots of opportunities. Sometimes you just run into some hot goaltenders and theyre hard to beat.Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins, and Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray combined to make 47 saves. Fleury was forced to leave briefly in the first period after being cut on his neck by a skate. He got five stitches around his Adams apple.The game got a frantic start when Carl Hagelin was hooked on a breakaway attempt by Connor Carrick in the opening two minutes. Hagelin was awarded a penalty shot but was stopped by Andersen.Less than a minute later, Fleury was injured on a dangerous play in front of his net.Leafs winger James van Riemsdyk was tussling with Penguins defenseman Steve Oleksy when van Riemsdyk lost his balance. His left skate kicked up and caught Fleury right under his mask, and as the action turned the other way, Fleury signaled to the bench and the play was whistled dead.The 32-year-old received treatment on the ice from a trainer before heading to the dressing room. Murray entered in his place, stopping all six shots he faced.Fleury returned just past the midway point of the first period.I got lucky you know, Fleury said. I was talking to the (doctors) and it was close to the jugular.Pittsburgh went up 1-0 just under two minutes later on Malkins 13th goal of the year. He was set up nicely by defenseman Justin Schultz, who faked a shot from atop the slot before sliding it over to Malkin. The Russian center whipped a one-time shot from one knee.Sidney Crosby added an assist on the play. The Penguins captain had a season-long nine-game point streak end Friday night in a 1-0 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings.The Leafs evened it up 14 seconds after Malkins goal on Zaitsevs first in the NHL. The 25-year-old, a free agent signing from Russia last summer, fired a shot from the right point that was batted by Oleksy in front before caroming off Fleurys mask and in.Zaitsev said he felt like he was 17 again after finally scoring. He had family in town for the game, but they opted to watch from a bar as opposed to in person.Its the joke of the day I think, Zaitsev said.Toronto generated quality opportunities on a power play a short while later, including van Riemsdyks attempt from the door-step that was stopped by the left toe of Fleury. Nikita Soshnikov sent Marners feed from the slot wide moments later.Game notesThe Penguins were playing without two of their top defensemen, Kris Letang and Trevor Daley, because of injuries.UP NEXTPenguins: Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday night.Maple Leafs: Host Anaheim on Monday night.Daryl Macon Jersey . Boucher previously coached the Tampa Bay Lightning and had a 97-78-20 record over two-plus seasons. He was dismissed by the team last March after the Lightning struggled in the lockout-shortened season with a 13-18-1 record. Heat Jerseys 2021 https://www.cheapheatonline.com/997h-chris-silva-jersey-heat.html . "We have always prided ourselves on the way we play defence. Having two big pieces back is going to be a key for us moving forward for years to come," said Knighthawks head coach Mike Hasen. Harold Miner Jersey . Lack made 20 saves for his third shutout of the season as the Canucks blanked the St. Louis Blues 1-0 in the first post-Olympic game for both teams night. Anthony Carter Jersey . Duchene scored two goals and had an assist, helping the Colorado Avalanche beat the Carolina Hurricanes 4-2 on Friday night to match the best 10-game start in team history.MIAMI -- Players have an open disdain for back-to-back games in the regular season, even while understanding theres no way around them when trying to wedge 82 games into 170 days.So some teams are spending part of this preseason trying to get ready.NBA teams get to largely dictate their own preseason schedule, and nine clubs opted to have at least one set of back-to-back games on their exhibition slate. Most are going on this weekend, with five teams -- Toronto, Cleveland, Miami, Golden State and Chicago -- playing either the first or second night of a back-to-back on Friday.Its good practice for us, Toronto coach Dwane Casey said. We want to approach it the way were going to approach it a few weeks from now, because theyre coming. And so the way we mentally approach back-to-backs ... weve got to get excited about it. Even though deep down we know its exhibition, weve got to get into a mindset of how do we prepare mentally, how do we prepare physically.Most teams around the league avoided them entirely. And Torontos isnt a true back-to-back, per se -- the Raptors were playing Cleveland on Thursday, then stepping out of the NBA realm to play the Argentinian club San Lorenzo on Friday.The Heat and the Los Angeles Clippers are subjecting themselves to preseason back-to-backs twice. And it could be argued the Heat are playing three of the dreaded sets, when factoring in their open scrimmage on Monday night that was the prequel to Tuesdays preseason game against Brooklyn.I want our guys to feel a lot of different situations, Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.Clippers coach Doc Rivers said he didnt mind them since they allow for more practice time, and he structured his schedule accordingly. Outside of his back-to-backs on Oct. 4 and 5 and Oct. 17 and 18, his team plays only twice during the 11-day span in between.I just think eight games is too many ffor guys, Rivers said.dddddddddddd I think this is nice. You play guys minutes, almost all of them. You give some guys a rest in some of them. I think its good.The Heat, who open their first back-to-back in San Antonio on Friday, have two in the span of a week. That closely mirrors something that happens during the course of the regular season. The NBA has made strides in recent years to reduce how many times each club has to endure games on consecutive nights -- or the even-more-dreaded four-games-in-five-days, something thats now a rarity.Last year I hated it in the preseason, said Heat forward Justise Winslow, entering his second season. But now I realize the purpose of it, just so guys can feel it, feel what it feels like mentally and physically.Minnesota plays its preseason back-to-back on Saturday and Sunday. The other two teams with them on their exhibition schedule are Charlotte and New York, clubs that decided put them toward the end of their preseason slate.Knicks coach Jeff Hornacek said it provides him with a chance to evaluate some players whose roles might still be unclear -- and that, as one might expect, stars like Carmelo Anthony wont log big minutes like they would in the regular season.I dont really anticipate playing Carmelo 35 minutes one night and 35 minutes the next, Hornacek said. So it might give an opportunity to some of these other guys, especially there are some of these guys trying to make the roster. Give them a little more playing time in those back-to-back situations to see what would happen if they were on your team. So for evaluation purposes its good but playing wise, you try not to kill these guys early.---AP Basketball Writer Brian Mahoney in New York contributed to this report. ' ' '