New rule stumbles Simon Benoit amid Maple Leaf penalty issues

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Craig Berube's crusade against a Maple Leafs team taking unnecessary penalties continues, but he cut defenseman Simon Benoit some slack on the first of his two juniors on Saturday night.

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Benoit caught up with Pittsburgh's Cody Glass, who was trying to get to the net alone on the right side, and lunged to successfully hit him with his stick, but as Glass went down, referee Dan O'Rourke's hand went up.

Benoit, Berube, the Leafs bench and the fans at Scotiabank Arena were furious. During the timeout, O'Rourke went to the dugout to talk to Benoit.

“I thought if I get to the puck first and then dive, I'll be fine,” Benoit said. “But I think the judge told me they changed the rule. If I put my feet down and the guy falls, it's automatically two minutes. I wasn't aware of this.

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Berube thought the decision was purely a defensive play.

“I didn't like talking to Benny (Benoit),” he said. “The others were penalties (Benoit's high stick at the end of a game-long fight with Michael Bunting, Max Pacioretty's hook and Bobby McMann's hit on Pens goalie Joel Blomqvist). We have to be better. We can't take them.

Benoit and Bunting simply missed each other playing in Toronto, the former arriving last year after new general manager Brad Treliving decided to let Bunting go to Carolina as a free agent. But as an agitating striker, Bunting is exactly the sort of opponent a physical defender like Benoit feels obliged to face, even though Bunting is a master at drawing penalties.

“He's good at his job.” Benoit admitted. “I have been playing against him for several years now. It's part of his game. I just don't like divers.”

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The Leafs have committed 14 penalties in three games, the second-most in the NHL, against Boston on Sunday afternoon, and they have killed 11 by the Penguins while Benoit was on the road. Benoit has four minors to himself.

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However, there are plenty of zeros in Toronto's power play column after three consecutive blanks on Saturday led to an 0-for-9 record. In last-chance action against the Pens, Berube promoted Oliver Ekman-Larsson to replace Morgan Rielly in the starting lineup after with Matthew Knies and Max Pacioretty moving from the second team and John Tavares missing the game due to illness.

After many of Pat Quinn's aforementioned coaches complained about his talented Leafs team trying to “put the ball in the net” on the power play, Berube repeated the same sentiment this week, urging a more direct attack on the goal with shots and rebounds .

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“We have to simplify it,” agreed winger William Nylander. “It's the beginning of the season, we'll click, I'm not worried about that.”

“We can't get frustrated,” added winger Mitch Marner. “I thought we did a better job with the entries (Saturday). We had looks and second chances that didn't go our way.

LOOSE LEAVES

A redesigned private dining area under the stands on the bench side of Scotiabank Arena is proving difficult to negotiate, even for players. Bunting tried to cut short a quick post-game meeting with Marner and Auston Matthews, who were waiting between the rooms, but surprised them by emerging through the new tunnel from Toronto… Now that Matthews and Marner have passed Ron Ellis for sixth and seventh in their Leafs career (649 and 641, respectively ), next on the list is George Armstrong at 713… With Tavares absent, Max Domi was 7 of 12 in faceoffs against the Pens, Nylander was 4 of 6… The Leafs had Sunday off and will resume practice before Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Kings.

lhornby@postmedia.com

X: : @sunhornby

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