TORONTO -- Kris Letang was in genuine pain when, he said, Philadelphia winger Scott Hartnell bit him on the right ring finger during a scrum in the waning seconds of the Penguins' 5-4 victory in Philadelphia Thursday.

Learning late the next afternoon that Hartnell would not be fined or suspended by the league, presumably because of a lack of irrefutable video evidence that he had sunk his teeth into Letang, did not hurt nearly as much.

"I'm over it," Letang said yesterday, a few hours before the Penguins faced Toronto at the Air Canada Centre.

"What happened, happened, and the people [in the league office] who had to make the decision did their best, probably.

"I've just got to be focused on my game and not worry about it anymore."

Letang, by the way, still had the top third of his injured finger bandaged.

Brian Burke has gotten a lot of attention for all the fighters and physical players he has brought to Toronto since being named general manager of the Maple Leafs.

Because getting tougher is easier and less time-consuming than acquiring the kind of high-end forwards the Maple Leafs will need to consistently compete at a high level, it is a logical step for a team in transition.

Burke put the finishing touches on a Stanley Cup-winning team in Anaheim, and his penchant for toughness is not the only tendency he has brought to the Maple Leafs.

Penguins left winger Chris Kunitz, who played for Burke in Anaheim, pointed out that acquiring defensemen like Francois Beauchemin and Mike Komisarek was as predictable as it was for Burke to add a fighter like Colton Orr.

"He likes to build from the defense out, too, and I think he's done that here," Kunitz said. "He's got some strong defensemen who play hard and play the style he likes."

The Penguins' previous visit here, a 6-2 loss against the Maple Leafs Feb. 14, was a key moment in franchise history.

It was defenseman Sergei Gonchar's first game back after recovering from shoulder surgery and, perhaps more important, Michel Therrien's final game as coach. The Penguins blew a 2-0 lead, and, the next day, general manager Ray Shero replaced Therrien with Dan Bylsma, who led the team to a Stanley Cup four months later.

All of which got Maple Leafs coach Ron Wilson wondering about whether the part his club played in the Penguins' success has been fully appreciated.

"I said to Ray Shero at one of our [U.S.] Olympic meetings, 'Do Brian and I get rings, too?'" Wilson said yesterday. "By us beating the Penguins last year, it was the last straw, unfortunately, for Mr. Therrien.

"They made their coaching change, and everything turned around, so I'm still waiting for my ring."

Wilson was, of course, kidding. Probably.

Pascal Dupuis won a Stanley Cup in the spring. Friday, he got to learn about guys who did it decades earlier.

Dupuis, who grew up in the Montreal suburb of Laval, and his teammates had dinner at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and were given the run of the place.

It was Dupuis' first visit to the Hall, and it made an impression.

"It was pretty nice," he said. "I took my time and looked at everything. It was pretty interesting for me.

"I grew up watching those guys and hearing about Maurice Richard, Jean Beliveau and Henri Richard from my dad and my family, how good they were."

"You see [former players'] faces, how old they are in the pictures," he said.

"How beat up they are. They're all missing teeth. The older jerseys, those were pretty special to see, too."

The Penguins are scheduled to give the Hall of Fame one of their championship rings to display.

Penguins Plus, a blog by Dave Molinari and Shelly Anderson, is featured exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.