(WGR 550) – This isn’t going to be a hard article to write, as Buffalo Sabres goalie Dustin Tokarski absolutely stole two points from the Pittsburgh Penguins in a 2-1 win on Tuesday night.
Tokarski was under siege in the third period, as well as the final eight or nine minutes of the second period. Shots in the third were 20-3 in favor of Pittsburgh, with the Penguins also leading the overall total, 46-19.
The win marked the first time in seven years that Tokarski won two games in a row, and one of the teams he happened to beat was the Sabres.
In Friday’s victory over the Edmonton Oilers, Tokarski faced 35 shots, meaning in two games, 81 shots came his way and he stopped 78 of them!
The only goal the Penguins could muster Tuesday night came in the third period when Bryan Rust’s pass went in off of Jake Guentzel’s skate. Pittsburgh had gone 0-for-28 with the extra man before that goal.
Sidney Crosby also got an assist, giving him his first point of the season in three games.
After a back-and-forth first period, Buffalo took the lead just 28 seconds into the second when Colin Miller’s shot went through a two-player screen.
The second goal came when Zemgus Girgensons fought hard to get back possession of a puck and find Kyle Okposo, who found a crease to the net and steered home his fourth of the season.
Buffalo gave up seven shots to the Penguins while on the power play. Pittsburgh had shorthanded breakaways, 2-on-1 chances, and a man wide-open for a one-timer while down a man. It was one of the first things head coach Don Granato talked about after the game, where he said many things went into it.
“It was a lack of concentration," Granato said. "We’re up 2-0, so you don’t have to score on the power play. Just read and react, and we didn’t. We didn’t take what was given, and we just started doing what we wanted to do and they came hard. They outworked us.
“We have to work as we do 5-on-5, and they had four and they outworked us. When you don’t have that work ethic as a foundation, it’s going to look ugly.”
With only one shot in their pocket and about two minutes left, the Sabres all of a sudden turned the tables and took off on odd-man rushes that resulted in breakaways for Tage Thompson and Vinnie Hinostroza. Tristan Jarry stopped both, but defenseman Kris Letang took a slashing penalty on Hinostroza, meaning when the Penguins pulled the goalie for the extra attacker to try to tie the game, it was only 5-on-5, not 6-on-5. That mattered, because Pittsburgh still produced more glorious scoring chances.
Kyle Okposo was quoted after the game as saying Tokarski was the No. 1, 2 and 3 star of the game.
It’s too bad the Sabres blew the game with the Toronto Maple Leafs with 11.8 seconds left in regulation. They may have been on a three-game winning streak going into Thursday’s game against the Calgary Flames.
Calgary lost in overtime to the Flyers on Tuesday night in Philadelphia.
Buffalo’s win has them tied with the Boston Bruins for fifth place in the Atlantic Division, but still two points out of the playoffs.
