Pittsburgh, Pa. (WGR 550) – For just the second time all season, the Buffalo Sabres have a two-game winning streak.
The Sabres can thank goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who stood on his head all night Saturday, making 40 saves in a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
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Not only did Luukkonen stop three clean breakaways, he did it against Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Rickard Rakell. Another huge save for the 24-year-old was when he came across on another Penguins power play and just got his glove on a Crosby one-timer.
It's extremely rare that Crosby is held without a point against the Sabres.
There were times when the Sabres got hemmed into their zone for long periods of time, but they were willing to block shots and get sticks in passing and shooting lanes.
Despite being outshot badly, I did see compete and I did see effort. In my mind, that’s how they found a way to win.
Along with Luukkonen, I thought the penalty kill won the Sabres Saturday's game. Pittsburgh went 1-for-5 on the power play, only because they got a full two-minute 5-on-3 man advantage that took them 1:52 to score on.
I thought in that 1:52, Erik Johnson, Mattias Samuelsson, Owen Power, Jordan Greenway and Tage Thompson did a phenomenal job. Crosby and Evgeni Malkin had the puck throughout that chance, but Buffalo never let them inside the diamond.
Luukkonen made that lead hold up until Pittsburgh got a tip-in with eight second left on the two-man advantage.
The Sabres didn’t become distracted or detoured by that, and with 4:38 left in regulation time, Zemgus Girgensons and Eric Robinson went to the net, with Girgensons right at the crease to backhand in a Samuelsson rebound.
Alex Tuch got the Sabres on the board early, and he took off as soon as Connor Clifton got control of the puck in his own end.
The win has Buffalo six points away from the eighth and final Eastern Conference playoff spot. Buffalo also has three wins in four games, and both Luukkonen and Devon Levi appear to be on their games in goal.
Now the Sabres return home for a six-game homestand to try to build on these two wins from the road trip.
The first game of the homestand comes Tuesday night against the Seattle Kraken.
