Pittsburgh, Pa. (WGR 550) - The Buffalo Sabres wrapped up their 2022 preseason schedule on Friday night, but it resulted in a blowout loss, 7-1, to the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh opened the scoring just over seven minutes into the game thanks to a costly turnover in the Buffalo zone. After a failed back pass from Sabres forward Vinnie Hinostroza found the stick of Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, the veteran found winger Jake Guentzel streaking towards the net, as he fired a quick shot over the blocker of goalie Eric Comrie.
The Penguins' lead grew to 2-0 near the halfway point of the period, as this time, the roles were reversed for Pittsburgh, as Guentzel managed to find Crosby for a nice cross-ice tap-in goal behind the Buffalo defense.
Buffalo's deficit continued to grow just over three minutes later, as defenseman Ty Smith took the puck from the blue line in towards the right faceoff circle, where he then found forward Bryan Rust in front, as Sabres defenseman Jeremy Davies could not tie him up enough to avoid another tap-in goal.
The first period ended with the Sabres getting outplayed quite handily, trailing 3-0 and getting outshot, 13-6.
The Sabres finally found the back of the net a little more than five minutes into the second period while playing shorthanded.
After a failed outlet pass from Crosby found the stick of Lawrence Pilut, the Sabres defenseman quickly fed the puck up to Hinostroza, who made a nice play to step around the Penguins captain and start a 2-on-1 rush with Zemgus Girgensons. Hinostroza waited with the puck long enough to catch Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry off balance and fire in his third goal of the preseason.
However, that turned out to be the only goal of the night for the Sabres, as they Penguins continued to put their foot on the gas through the remainder of the contest.
Nearly five minutes after Buffalo's goal, Crosby put the Penguins back up by three with his second goal of the game that beat Comrie from a sharp angle, over his glove and off the back crossbar of the net.
The Penguins weren't done in the second period, as just 1:03 later, Smith was able to beat Comrie with a wrist shot from the point that appeared to re-direct off the stick of Sabres winger JJ Peterka.
Pittsburgh's lead ballooned to 6-1 at the 5:30 mark of the third period as Danton Heinen was left all alone in front of Comrie, as he waited patiently to slide the puck past the extended right leg of the Buffalo goalie.
In the dying moments of the game, Rust scored his second goal of the night and fourth of the preseason with a nice wrist shot over the glove hand of Comrie to give the Penguins a 7-1 lead.
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GAME RECAP
Scoring Summary:
First Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: 7:04 - Jake Guentzel (1) (Sidney Crosby); 9:40 - Sidney Crosby (1) (Jake Guentzel, Rickard Rakell); 13:49 - Bryan Rust (3) (Ty Smith, Jan Rutta)
Second Period:
BUF: 5:13 - Vinnie Hinostroza (3) SHG (Lawrence Pilut)
PIT: 10:11 - Sidney Crosby (2) PPG (Jake Guentzel, Evgeni Malkin); 11:14 - Ty Smith (1) (Danton Heinen, Evgeni Malkin)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: 5:30 - Danton Heinen (1) (Jeff Carter, Kasperi Kapanen); 19:28 - Bryan Rust (4) (Evgeni Malkin, Jeff Petry)
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Penalty Summary:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 4:26 - Jacob Bryson (Tripping - 2 min.); 10:02 - Jack Quinn (High sticking - 2 min.)
PIT: NONE
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Sidney Crosby - PIT
2.) Jake Guentzel - PIT
3.) Ty Smith - PIT
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What's next:
The Sabres will have six days off to prepare for the 2022-23 regular season opener on Thursday night against the Ottawa Senators at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. ET with pregame coverage on WGR starting at 6 p.m. ET with Mike Schopp and the Bulldog.
