TORONTO— Toronto fans started the night with a celebration for a former captain. The spotlight ended up on a guy with the potential to be a future captain.

Luke Schenn made his presence felt all over the ice Saturday night and was one of the main reasons the Maple Leafs beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-4.

The rookie defenseman leveled Evgeni Malkin with a big hit, held his own in a fight with Tyler Kennedy and made a nice play to help set up Matt Stajan's third-period goal. Schenn also heard a sellout crowd chant "Luuuuke! Luuuuke!" on a night where the team honored Doug Gilmour's No. 93 in a pregame ceremony.

It was a symbolic performance from a teenager who is starting to demonstrate the kind of qualities inside the dressing room that Gilmour was once known for.

"He's definitely got the makings of a leader," defenseman Mike Van Ryn said. "When they say he's a future captain, he definitely is. He asked me the other day if it was OK that he spoke and I think it's good that he does.

"He speaks at the right times and his play has been great."

Schenn couldn't have picked a much better time to exert himself.

His performance came just hours after the team announced that Tomas Kaberle will be out four weeks with a broken bone in his right hand. Schenn will be among the guys who will likely assume more of a workload — he spent much of Saturday's game matching up against Malkin and Sidney Crosby.

"I don't think the experience he had tonight he could have got in 100 games in the Western league or five games in the world (junior) championship," coach Ron Wilson said.

The Maple Leafs appeared in control of the game with a 3-1 lead at the start of the third period. Then Crosby set off a scoring spree by getting a goal 55 seconds in.

It was tied 4-4 when the puck found its way onto Jason Blake's stick and behind goalie Mathieu Garon at 10:05 of the third. Blake has seven goals in seven games.

The most recent one was especially important because Kennedy had put the tying goal behind Vesa Toskala a few minutes earlier for Pittsburgh. The Leafs thought Kennedy should have been ejected for coming off the bench to fight Schenn in the second period.

The NHL received a call from Toronto GM Brian Burke and is expected to review the tape.

"My opinion is that he came off the bench and initiated a fight," Wilson said. "We'll see what their investigation shows."