Graig Abel, Getty Images The Maple Leafs come to Mellon Arena after beating New Jersey, 2-1, last night in Toronto. Here, the Devils' Brian Gionta trips up Ken Klee. Click photo for larger image.

When he last left his team, Penguins coach Michel Therrien offered a parting shot at his defensemen.

Therrien was disappointed with their play, especially their cheesecloth performance at the blue line Friday night, when Philadelphia came back in the third period to win, 5-4.

When the Penguins reconvened after two days off for the holiday, Therrien had a problem trying to work on a solution in practice yesterday afternoon at Ice Castle in Castle Shannon as the team prepared for its home game tonight against Toronto.

Because of flight cancellations, Ryan Whitney was stuck in Boston. Brooks Orpik was at practice but left early because of an unspecified injury from blocking a shot against the Flyers.

"That defenseman group has got to be better, but it was tough to work on it because we only had five [defensemen] at practice," Therrien said.

"We can't give up the zone too easy, which is one thing we're doing right now. Those guys have to understand that if the other teams are going to gain our zone, they have to deserve it. And, right now, we let those guys walk in. That's a bad risk."

Defenseman Ric Jackman couldn't argue with that.

"I think he made a good point," Jackman said. "We were soft on a couple of their late goals."

Defenseman Sergei Gonchar said the problem starts in the neutral zone.

"We have to narrow the gap, be closer to the forwards," he said. "We're working on it."

The burden doesn't rest solely with the defensemen, rookie center Sidney Crosby said.

"To play good defensively, it's a team effort," he said. "We have to make sure we're supporting each other out there, backing each other up and trying to put as much pressure on the other team as we can so they make mistakes."

Murley out

Matt Murley, who injured his left shoulder in a fight in the Penguins' loss to Philadelphia, did not practice and won't play tonight. Therrien, who described Murley's injury only as a "sore shoulder," said the winger will be held out for about a week. "We want to make sure he comes back healthy, 100 percent," Therrien said.

Toronto hurting, too

Injuries have taken a toll on Toronto, which has fallen to just over .500 and is expected to be without forwards Alexander Steen, Eric Lindros and Nik Antropov tonight.

Slap shots

Therrien described Whitney's travel problems as "one of those things" and said any punitive measures for missing practice will "be between me and him." ... New goaltending consultant Gilles Lefebvre was on the ice during practice. ... Asked by a Toronto reporter about awarding Crosby an alternate captaincy and told it is considered controversial in Toronto, Therrien smiled and said, "There's a lot of controversy with everything in Toronto. There was no controversy here in Pittsburgh."