Rookie Tournament: Leafs beat Penguins 3-1

*Based in Southern Ontario, Junior "A" talent evaluator Brian Kelly is a special contributor to Inside Pittsburgh Sports, covering the 2009 Rookie Tournament.

Kitchener, Ontario - The Pittsburgh Penguins top prospects got their first look at Swedish goaltender Jonas Gustavsson Sunday night in the Penguins opening game in the 2009 Rookie Tournament.

Gustavsson was strong in net making 36 saves and leading the Maple Leafs to a 3-1 win.

The Maple Leafs got goals from Alex Berry, Viktor Stalberg and Greg Scott. For Pittsburgh it was a game they would like to move on from.

They were outworked and out chanced as the Leafs were the faster and more physical team. Brian Burke is quickly building the Leafs system into one of the NHL's best. Pittsburgh saw that first hand tonight.

Evaluations on Tangradi, Veilleux, Grant & more

A few bright spots for Pittsburgh on the night was goaltender Patrick Killeen, center Jon Vitale and 2009 first round pick Simon Despres. Killeen who was the Penguins top goalie in their prospect camp in July, made over 30 saves and kept Pittsburgh in the game all night.

*Killeen had one goal against that he would like to have back in the second period by Greg Scott. Other than that, it was great night of work for the 19 year old goaltender.

*Vitale scored the Penguins lone-goal and was the teams top forward on the ice. Vitale was extremely noticeable, using his exceptional speed to be very productive on the fore-check. He's a player who could be a solid depth player down the road for the Penguins.

The best news of the night was the performance of 2009 1st round pick Simon Despres. Despres played a sound defensive game and was very effective in closing in on an incoming forward.

For an 18 year old defenseman, his positioning was exceptional on the night. What was most impressive by his performance Sunday night was his ability on