The Buffalo Sabres took on the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday, hoping to end their 14-game losing streak. However, the Penguins came out victorious after establishing a lead early on. The game ended with the score at 5-2.
The Penguins’ Evan Rodrigues scored the first goal of the game off of a long pass from Sam Lafferty, about eight minutes into the game. This was Rodrigues’ third goal of the season.
Kris Letang, Penguins defenseman, scored next. Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby as well as Bryan Rust recorded assists on this goal.
The Sabres’ Rasmus Dahlin scored a goal with assists from Brandon Montour and Taylor Hall. This marked Hall’s first point in seven games.
With only about 20 seconds left in the first period, Rasmus Ristolainen received a penalty call for cross-checking against Anthony Angello.
Ristolainen then received another penalty about five minutes into the second period for interference against Lafferty.
Dahlin took a stick to the face with no call from the officials. He received light medical attention on the bench and returned to the ice with some gauze in his nose.
John Marino and Dahlin, both took penalties within a very short time, resulting in a brief four-on-four. The Penguins had a goal that was immediately called down, during the four-on-four, due to a high stick on the puck right before it got to the shooter.
Not long after, Marino slapped a shot past several skaters to score a goal with assists from Jared McCann and Zach Aston-Reese, making the score 3-1.
With about a minute left in the second period, the Penguins’ Mark Jankowski received a call for interference against Colin Miller.
Aston-Reese then scored a short-handed goal on a remarkable play made by Frederick Gaudreau, who made a sudden pass back up to Aston-Reese instead of shooting. This sufficiently drew Buffalo goaltender, Dustin Tokarski’s attention, leaving Aston-Reese an open spot in the net.
Another four-on-four occurred for almost one minute in the third period. Jacob Bryson and Kris Letang were each called for hooking penalties shortly apart.
After both teams were full strength, Crosby scored a goal, blocker-side, on a breakaway. The score then became 5-1.
Victor Olofsson was on a breakaway of his own when Mike Matheson reached around him. Olofsson was given a penalty shot, went five-hole and scored. This brought the score to 5-2 where it would remain.
The Sabres’ Eric Staal received a penalty for cross-checking against Marino with only 1:30 left in the game, giving the Penguins a power play for the rest of the game.
Image courtesy of NHL.com
Wednesday’s loss extended Buffalo’s loss streak to 15 games. Two of their prior losses during this streak were also against the Penguins.
The Sabres are currently missing captain Jack Eichel, goaltender Linus Ullmark, goaltender Carter Hutton, Kyle Okposo and Tobis Rieder.
The Penguins were also missing a key player – Evgeni Malkin.
The Penguins will have another chance to earn two more points and the Sabres will have another chance to break their losing streak Thursday at 7:00 p.m. EST.
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