Peter Diana, Post-Gazette Evgeni Malkin, center, celebrates with teammates after scoring against the Maple Leafs in the third period last night at Mellon Arena. Click photo for larger image. Related articles Penguins Notebook: Aubin sheds former nickname The 5 hole: A five-step trip through the stars and numbers of the week for Dec. 29 to Jan. 4

Sergei Gonchar is the kind of player who can be a difference-maker for the Penguins.

Who, with a $4.5 million salary this season, has to be, at least if his team hopes to be a factor in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

But who hasn't been -- not in a positive way, anyway -- nearly often enough during the past three months.

Gonchar, however, showed what he is capable of in the Penguins' 4-1 victory against Toronto at Mellon Arena last night. He scored the winner and set up their third goal and was a presence all over the ice.

It was a pretty fair night's work for anybody, but especially for a guy who had no points in the previous six games and a plus-minus rating of minus-6 in the previous four.

"He had a great game," center Sidney Crosby said. "He controlled the play when he wanted to, and that's what's so fun to watch when you play with him."

Teammate Ryan Whitney said, "it was good to see him kind of get out of his little points slump and get it rolling again," but it wasn't just the goal and assist that made an impression.

"He was everywhere out there," goalie Marc-Andre Fleury said.

Gonchar deflected praise for his performance -- "I don't want to [single] myself out," he said. "The team did a great job. Everybody."-- but there's no question his play will be one of the key variables in how this season plays out.

"He's a huge part [of the team]," coach Michel Therrien said.

The Penguins' victory pulled them out of a 0-4-1 slide and bumped their record to 16-15-6. It also ended an 0-6-1 run against the Maple Leafs at Mellon Arena, a drought that stretched to Nov. 1, 2001.

Even with the victory, the Penguins are just 3-8-2 in their past 13 games against the Maple Leafs.

The game attracted a standing-room crowd of 17,132, including a healthy contingent of Toronto fans. It was the Penguins' fourth consecutive capacity-plus turnout.

The Penguins lost winger Nils Ekman for the balance of the evening -- and perhaps much longer -- with about 4¹/₂ minutes left in the first period, when he injured his left elbow after going awkwardly into the boards in the wake of a collision with Toronto's Matt Stajan.

The precise nature of Ekman's injury was not announced, and team officials said he would be re-evaluated at a still-undetermined time.

Ekman was in such obvious pain that he left the ice immediately after being injured, even though play had not stopped. The Penguins sent someone over the boards to replace him and were assessed a minor penalty for having too many men on the ice.

Therrien used Crosby and Evgeni Malkin together on a line with Mark Recchi. Crosby finished with three assists while Malkin had one goal and assisted on another, but all of those points came on power plays.

The Penguins, who had failed on two previous tries with the extra man, capitalized on their third chance, as Erik Christensen, positioned below the right circle, banked a shot off Leafs goalie Jean-Sebastien Aubin and into the net for his seventh of the season with 35.8 seconds to go before the intermission.

Aleksander Suglobov appeared to tie the game for Toronto during a power play at 2:15 of the second, when he beat Fleury from low in the right circle, but the net had been dislodged several seconds before his shot, and the goal was disallowed.

The Maple Leafs pulled even in the middle of the period, though, on a Mats Sundin goal that culminated a breathtaking sequence of end-to-end play.

With 9:40 left in the period, Fleury denied John Pohl on an uncontested shot from in front of the net. Play turned in the other direction and, seconds later, Aubin rejected a Malkin shot from the right circle.

Toronto went back the other way, and Sundin knocked in a Boyd Devereaux rebound from the left side of the crease at 10:40.

Gonchar put the Penguins in front to stay during a two-man advantage 53 seconds into the third, when his shot from high on the right side of the slot caromed off Aubin and into the net.

Malkin gave the Penguins some breathing room at 6:54, as he steered in a Gonchar feed for his 18th, and Jordan Staal closed out the scoring with a stellar individual effort at 12:57. He stole the puck behind the Toronto goal line, then stuffed a shot past Aubin for his 11th.

The victory not only nudged the Penguins back toward the Eastern playoff field, but gave them a badly needed infusion of confidence heading into 2007.

"We didn't win lately," Gonchar said. "Obviously, it's nice to finish the year on a note like this."

Especially when Gonchar played such an important part in making it happen.