Score: Sabres 2 | Penguins 4
Shots: BUF 31 | PIT 19
Buffalo Sabres Goals: Jack Quinn (6,7)
Pittsburgh Penguins Goals: Mathew Dumba (1), Bryan Rust (6), Kevin Hayes (1), Connor Dewar (5-EN)
Plus-1: PK Continues to Reign Supreme
After a weak tripping call for Sidney Crosby on defenseman Conor Timmins, Pittsburgh was first to go on the power play tonight. This could have easily been a recipe for an early lead, but the Sabres were able to stop the best team in the league in terms of man-advantage, extending their own impressive statistic of having the best penalty kill in the league at 87.7%.
Minus-1: That Didn’t Last Long
Following the Sabres’ penalty kill and keeping the scoreboard at an even 0-0, the Penguins capitalized on a truly awful turnover in the neutral zone by none other than Timmins. He had the opportunity to skate the puck out of the zone, but chose to lazily pass it to…no one? Mathew Dumba’s shot – just the third of the period for his team – ended up being his first goal of the year. Other than this one goal, the opening period was more or less a snooze-fest.
Minus-2: Shoot the Puck
One of the most irritating aspects of the Sabres’ play this year – for this writer at least – has been the embarrassing absence of shots on goal. Halfway through the second period tonight, Buffalo had a mere five shots on goal. Five. Obviously this is a novel concept, but you have to shoot the puck to score a goal and you have to score goals to win hockey games.
And, though shots picked up in the latter half of the game and even surpassed Pittsburgh, Buffalo could not create momentum, even after tying it up. The Sabres’ first goal came after an icing by the home team, forcing them to remain on the ice after quite some time. It was Bowen Byram who kept the puck in the Penguins’ zone after the faceoff with Jack Quinn’s wrister seemingly redirected by Zucker’s stick. Sounds great, right? Well, it would have been if Pittsburgh didn’t answer back so quickly with a five-hole right past Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to regain the lead.
Plus-2: Quinner
Though Quinn has been the scoring star of the night for the Sabres, it was really Mattias Samuelsson who set Zucker and Quinn up to score their second of the night and – if only briefly – giving the team hope for a real comeback.
Final Thoughts
It is a tale as old as time: the Sabres fail to play a complete 60 minutes and it costs them another game. Playing catch-up – and only really in one period at that – not only does not win hockey games, but puts extra pressure on your goaltender. There’s really no blaming UPL or the defense for the loss tonight. The offense floundered during most of the game and it was reflected in the final score.