PITTSBURGH (93.7 the Fan) Riding a five game winning streak, the Pittsburgh Penguins looked to finish off their home stand strong against the Buffalo Sabres.
Not the same Sabres team that couldn’t buy a win last season, instead a Buffalo team that has started off solid and already defeated the Penguins this year.
While they are much improved, the Sabres have seen their struggles as of late, using five goalies already this season.
Malcom Subban was in net for the Sabres with Tristan Jarry getting another start for the Penguins.
It was the Subban show early as the Penguins pelted him with shots early on; The Pens led in shots 21-5 after the first period.
Who else but Evan Rodrigues? He opened the scoring with a power play goal just under six minutes into the game.
A career high 10 goals for Rodrigues, quite a mark for someone who may not have cracked the lineup had there not been so many injuries.
After a fight between Zach Aston-Reese and Tage Thompson, the Penguins were heading back to the power play.
On that power play, Subban made what could be save of the year, stopping Rodrigues of another goal.
Subban’s glove hand was lucky enough to be in the right spot as he sprawled to try and make a save on Rodrigues.
It may not have been how he wanted to make it, but the save was made.
Heading into the second the Penguins had all of the momentum and an extraordinary amount of shots.
Brock McGinn made it a 2-0 game after finding a loose puck and getting it passed a sliding Subban through traffic.
Still not having to face many shots, Jarry was stellar through most of the second period making a few big saves.
Jarry did let one in about 12 minutes into the second when Zemgus Girgensons scores. The assist went to Casey Fitzgerald who made his NHL debut and is the son of former Penguins assistant general manager.
Fitzgerald was a goal away from a Gordie Howe hat trick by getting into a scrum with Sam Lafferty in the second period.
The Sabres wouldn’t go away and Rasmus Dahlin tied the game at 2 with a late goal in the third period, forcing overtime.
The Penguins would kill off a Jeff Carter penalty to start the overtime period and it was Carter who served as the hero scoring the game winner.
Off the draw and just a tip past Subban from a Kris Letang pass give the Penguins their sixth consecutive win.