Sabres Fall to Penguins in Overtime

Another unfortunate night in Pittsburgh for the Buffalo Sabres. We watched the same game we’ve seen unfold between the Penguins and Sabres over the last few years.

As per usual, the Sabres started out of the gate hot. They go five 2 on 1 odd man rushes in the first period. They capitalized on one of them as Jack Eichel fed Evander Kane for his tenth of the season. Later in the period, Sam Reinhart would increase the lead with a power-play goal he put past Matt Murray off the back wall.

Buffalo looked to be headed to the room with a two-goal lead after one, but a bad mistake with under 20 seconds left in the period would cost them. Robin Lehner would go behind the net to get a dump in. He turned the puck over and Patric Hornqvist put into the empty net off the foot of Ryan O’Reilly.

The late period goal didn’t seem to affect the club early in the second period. Jack Eichel scored his fifth of the season just 16 seconds into the middle frame. However, from that point on it was all Penguins.

Conor Sheary would score his first of the game to get the Penguins back within one. After some pressure throughout the period by the Pens. It was time for Crosby to score his goal against the Sabres like he seems to do in every game against them.

They were on the ropes but got a late power play. Reinhart made another nifty play behind the net to find Benoit Pouliot out front who beat Murray on the backhand to put the Sabres back in front 4-3 with 6.7 seconds remaining in the period.

The third period was pretty even, but the Penguins started to bring the pressure in the later portion of the period. Evgeni Malkin made a nice pass to Phil Kessel who was left uncovered at the back door and he put it by Lehner to tie the game with just over six minutes left.

The Sabres would get the point as the two would head to overtime. The Pens ended it quickly. Right off the opening draw of overtime, there seemed to be confusion on coverage. Crosby was behind the net and got away from Kane to find Sheary in front all alone for an easy game-winning goal as Eichel drifted too far away to break up the play.

Blown leads of 2-0, 3-1 and 4-3. Another typical loss in Pittsburgh.

Final Score: Penguins 5 | Sabres 4 OT

Shots on Goal: Penguins 45 | Sabres 32

Penguins Goal Scorers: Hornqvist (6), Sheary (7,8), Crosby (6) and Kessel (8)

Sabres Goal Scorers: Kane (10), Reinhart (3), Eichel (5) and Pouliot (6)

Three Stars of the Game

1. Conor Sheary (2G, GWG)

2. Sam Reinhart (1G, 2A)

3. Sidney Crosby (1G, 1A)

What to Watch

1. A losing streak will end.

The losing streak ended for Pittsburgh. Three losses in a row for the Sabres.

2. Multiple players out of the lineup.

Nobody else got hurt.

3. Sabres struggle in Pittsburgh.

The struggle is real.

Comment of the Game

I feel like the game is lost already.

by Nuthatch on Nov 14, 2017 | 9:40 PM up reply rec (1) flag actions