TORONTO -- It took three attempts, but the Toronto Maple Leafs finally figured out how to win in overtime this week.

After 3-2 losses in shootouts to the San Jose Sharks and the Arizona Coyotes on Tuesday and Thursday, the Maple Leafs defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-1 on Saturday night when Jake Gardiner scored at the two-minute mark of overtime.

"Mitch (Marner) was all over the defenseman and created a turnover and I saw my chance to jump," Gardiner said. "The puck squirted loose -- I was a little nervous I was going to flub it and I kind of did. Luckily it went in."

Gardiner had a gaping net as a target after Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury dove out to try to stop Marner.

The Maple Leafs stopped a three-game losing streak while the Penguins lost in overtime for the second straight night.

"We don't tell them it's just another win," Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock said. "We showed a lot today about how detailed they were and how good they were. That's what we're trying to do. I think you should follow that up with feeling good about our team."

Defenseman Nikita Zaitsev scored his first career goal for Toronto (12-11-7). Marner had two assists.

Evegni Malkin scored for Pittsburgh (20-7-5).

The Maple Leafs had a 49-34 advantage in shots on goal.

"I don't think we committed ourselves hard enough to defend, and play away from the puck," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "And that's the lesson that we have to learn, we have to be more committed to play away from the puck and when we do that we're more difficult to play against, we spend less time in our end zone and we can play to our strengths. ...I don't think we played as well as a team and we're disappointed."

Fleury started in goal for Pittsburgh. He was cut on the throat by a skate and left the game for nine minutes, with Matthew Murray taking his place, before returning in the first period. Fleury made 41 saves and Murray made six.

Toronto goaltender Frederik Andersen made 33 saves, some of them superb.

Andersen stopped a penalty shot that was awarded to Carl Hagelin at 1:27 of the first period.

Fleury left the game at 1:59 of the first when he caught a skate in the neck area when Toronto's James van Riemsdyk was upended in the crease. Fleury returned to the goal at 11:14 of the first.

"I got lucky," said Fleury, who said he took about five stitches in the wound. "It wasn't that bad. It was bad luck, but I was happy that it wasn't bad."

Pittsburgh took the lead with a power-play goal at 12:51 of the first period by Malkin, his 13th of the season, dropping to one knee on a one-timer off a pass from Justin Schultz. Sidney Crosby also picked up an assist. Toronto's William Nylander was serving a hooking penalty.

The Maple Leafs tied the game 14 seconds later when Zaitsev scored from the right point on a pass back by Marner. Van Riemsdyk also earned an assist, his 200th point with the Maple Leafs.

The Penguins killed off two minor penalties in the final five minutes of the second period.

The Penguins went on the power play at 5:18 of the third period when Matt Hunwick received four minutes for high-sticking. The Maple Leafs were two men short when Nikita Soshnikov was penalized for delay of the game at 7:11. Pittsburgh failed to capitalize on the opportunity.

"When you have a five-on-three you have an expectation that you score there," Sullivan said. "Especially when you have it for that long a period of time. They had a couple of looks but not enough. I think we've got to execute better."

"It was great," Andersen said. "We really got the bounce there to get (the winner) in, I think we played well most of the night. The penalty kill came up huge for us obviously in the third, so that was big."

The Penguins did not feel that fatigue was a factor, playing their second overtime in two nights, while the Leafs had Friday off. "I don't think that's an excuse," Olli Maatta said. "Execution, we've got to be better with that."

"I don't know, the guys were ready to go," Babcock said. "Like I said, they played last night and sometimes you don't have the same juice back-to-back. Let's not kid ourselves, Crosby, he might go the odd night without hurting you badly but let's not get carried away."

NOTES: Pittsburgh recalled D Chad Ruhwedel from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Saturday and placed D Kris Letang (lower body injury) on injured reserve. Ruhwedel, 26, has three goals and 10 assists with the American Hockey League team. ... Penguins D Trevor Daley (upper body injury) is listed as week-to-week after being injured in the second period of the 1-0 overtime loss to the Los Angeles Kings on Friday. ...Maple Leafs D Martin Marincin (lower body injury) will be out 4-to-6 weeks after being injured in the win over the Boston Bruins on Dec. 10. At first, the injury was not considered that serious. ...Toronto recalled G Jhonas Enroth from the Marlies and returned G Antoine Bibeau to the AHL club in a shuffling of backups. ...The Maple Leafs finish a five-game homestand Monday against the Anaheim Ducks. ...The Penguins return home to play the New York Rangers on Tuesday.