Jamie Sabau
NEW YORK - Colton Orr was back on the ice Thursday when the Toronto Maple Leafs practiced at the Sky Rink at Chelsea Pier in Manhattan, one of the most interesting practice venues in the NHL, looking none the worse for wear after suffering a nasty knockdown in a fight the previous evening.
After he scored his first goal of the season in the first period during another fine outing by the Leafs' fourth line, Orr was thumped by Pittsburgh Penguins winger Derek Engelland in a second-period fight. He did not return to the game but was skating hard in practice. He is expected to start when the Leafs, who downed the Penguins 4-3, put their undefeated record on the line Friday at Madison Square Garden against the New York Rangers.
Engelland, 28, is a native of Edmonton who has all of 12 NHL games to his credit but losing to him was no shame for Orr. It turns out that Engelland has a long list of KOs in the minor leagues and is known by some in the NHL as one of the toughest customers in the game.
His former teammate in the Penguins organization, Phoenix Coyotes tough guy and rising Twitter star Paul Bissonnette paid tribute to him Thursday in a tweet: "Played with Engelland in Wilkes-Barre for three seasons. He is undercover top-10 toughest guys in the NHL. I would watch him pump guys in the AHL. Scary man that Derek."
Leafs head coach Ron Wilson said that aside from starting J.S. Giguere in goal against the Rangers his lineup will be the same one that beat the Penguins. Defenceman Brett Ledba is skating after coming off the injured list but both he and Wilson said he will not be ready to play until Monday.
Here are the forward lines for Friday's game:
Versteeg-Bozak-Kessel
MacArthur-Grabovski-Kulemin
Sjostrom-Brent-Armstrong
Brown-Zigomanis-Orr