Kyle Dubas’ Penguins down his ex-Maple Leafs in their first meeting

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Kyle Dubas built the modern Maple Leafs with 63 trades in five years as general manager.

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Now, their self-destructing ways in this season’s first quarter are Brad Treliving’s problem.

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Just when the new boss thinks he sees progress, the team coming back from Sweden on a four-game win streak, chances for points against two struggling teams slipped away on an American Thanksgiving weekend trip.

While they salvaged a single in overtime after blowing a 3-1 lead to Central Division bottom-dwelling Chicago on Friday, it was Dubas’s new club, the slow-starting Pittsburgh Penguins, who gradually unravelled Toronto 3-2 on Saturday.

Dubas’s best players got the drop on Toronto’s when it counted. Sidney Crosby had a first-period assist to quickly negate a Leaf lead and Erik Karlsson delivered a last-minute dagger in the second period, paving the way to a 3-2 win.

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Toronto, which entered Steeltown with a road record of 5-1-3, including a pair of triumphs in the land of Tre Kronor, now has three straight home games to get its act together.

Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews are having trouble finishing and could get nothing going on the Leafs vaunted power play Saturday. William Nylander, despite playing 26:10, a career high, joined them in being held off the board a second straight contest, after his 17-game season-opening streak.

“We’re moving the puck well, but not scoring,” alternate captain Morgan Rielly said. “That plays a role in the outcome.”

Coach Sheldon Keefe pulled goalie Joseph Woll with more than two minutes remaining to attempt the equalizer, but the pressure from the big guns didn’t pay off.

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One of Dubas’s deals last year in Toronto was for two-way forward Noel Acciari, whom he retained as a free agent in Pittsburgh. Acciari had the tying goal as part of his effective night, his line seeing a lot of the Matthews – Marner – Matthew Knies group.

“Playing from behind, things don’t go your way, you end up losing games,” Rielly said.

The Leafs came out of the middle period trailing by a goal despite killing off a 21-second 5-on-3 with some key shot blocks. TJ Brodie, who put them in that precarious spot by clearing the glass with room to dump it elsewhere, later had his pass picked off behind the net by Acciari and the ex-Leaf surprised Woll.

Pittsburgh brushed off the home crowd booing of its ailing power play to put the clamps on the Leafs in the dying seconds. They won two draws, Jeff Carter beating David Kampf and Karlsson blasting it through from the point.

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“It was tight and that was a tough one to give up,” Matthews said. “We had good looks and it didn’t go in, but we had good process.

“It (his line with Marner) is hit and miss right now. Consistency is a big thing and it can be frustrating at times. It’s on us to figure it out and be more connected, all five guys on the ice.

“A lot of times it’s effort-based more than skill-based.”

Both teams were coming off one-goal losses on Friday and eagerness to atone was notable. Less than half a minute after Tyler Bertuzzi was set up by John Tavares for the first goal than another first overall, Crosby engineering a tap-in for Jake Guentzel when the Leafs messed up 3-on-3 coverage.

Karlsson passed up a great look in the slot that turned into Knies’s sixth of the year from a Calle Jarnkrok feed. Knies is one of draft gifts Dubas left his successor, 57th overall in 2021 with just three picks that year.

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NO RELIEF FOR KEEFE

Saturday morning required some stickhandling by Keefe, with increased questions on Marner’s sluggish November (now just three assists in seven games) and relatively slow start to the season, though keeping a point-a-game pace.

“Just not executing at the level you’d expect from Mitch,” Keefe told reporters in Pittsburgh. “At times, he’s had it. I thought after being challenged after the second period (Friday in Chicago when the Leafs gave up the lead) that the line and Mitch in particular, had a better third and showed some positive signs.

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“But no doubt, Mitch hasn’t found his groove here yet.”

With Dubas not doing any interviews leading up to the game, Keefe was the one quizzed on their long history. Dubas brought Keefe to the OHL Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, the Toronto Marlies and eventually the Leafs after Mike Babcock was fired.

“I clearly wouldn’t be here without the faith he put in me,” Keefe said. “I’d like to think I’ve helped him at the same time a little bit. It was a good relationship. We had to push and challenge one another. I’m forever grateful for all he has done.

“But he’s on the other side now and I’ve enjoyed the process of working with (Treliving) here just the same.”

Dubas did watch the morning skate with his Toronto/Pittsburgh lieutenant Jason Spezza. Tavares’s assist tied him with Spezza at 995 points for 98th in NHL history.

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LOOSE LEAFS

Winger Bobby McMann took the warm-up after being bumped for Ryan Reaves in Chicago, but Keefe threw a curveball and used Simon Benoit as a seventh defenceman, spotting forwards Kampf and Noah Gregor with Jarnkrok during the match … Dubas left town with the highest points percentage of any GM in Leafs history, .651 between 2018-23, but his teams won only one playoff series in six tries. Dubas (231) and Tampa Bay’s Julien BrisBois (248) have the most wins of any NHL GMs who’ve worked less than 400 games to date … Matthews played his 500th NHL game, going into the contest with a points-per-game average of 1.13. That’s a tie for third in franchise history with Reg Noble of the inaugural Toronto Arenas but behind Doug Gilmour (1.15) and 1920s star Babe Dye’s 1.24 … Max Domi played in his 600th game … Nylander faced brother Alex on the opening faceoff, the younger sibling now on his third team since Buffalo made him a first rounder in 2016 … The Marlies, who lost a 2-1 shootout in Cleveland on Friday despite a 21-save night from rookie Dennis Hildeby, take on the Monsters at home at 4 p.m. Sunday.

lhornby@postmedia.com

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