The scene was familiar, if not frustrating.

Mikhail Grabovski was skating through the neutral zone, the puck seemingly glued to his stick, while weaving in and out of traffic. His wingers might have been open and looking for a pass, but the Toronto Maple Leafs forward either did not see them or simply wanted to create something on his own.

Then the inevitable happened.

Grabovski made one too many moves and was separated from the puck with a bodycheck. Frustrated, he slammed his stick against the ice and then glared at the person who had stopped his progress. Less than a minute later, helmets were off and punches were thrown.

The incident may not have been such a big deal, except that it happened at practice. And it was Jason Blake who received what appeared to be a fat lip from his teammate.

After, both players refused to discuss the tussle, which head coach Ron Wilson also dismissed ("There was a punch?" he asked. "Who? When? I never saw that"). But it is obvious that Grabovski is clearly annoyed these days.

"He's frustrated because his one-on-one stuff is not working," Wilson said.

"I know you guys think it looks great when the one time out of 35 times he'll beat a guy one-on-one. And everybody will (say), 'What an unbelievable play.' But the other 34 times, the other team's coming and applying pressure to your defence."

After scoring 10 goals in his first 24 games, the rookie centre has just one goal in the last 17 games. Last week, he was a healthy scratch. And after sitting on the bench for most of Thursday's 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, there is a good chance he will not be in tonight's lineup against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Boyd Devereaux and Bates Battaglia were recalled from the minors yesterday.

Though Wilson has not determined if one or both of the veterans will dress tonight, he said he wouldn't think twice about cutting Grabovski's ice time.

"If he keeps turning pucks over, I'll keep putting him on the bench until he learns to use his teammates."