It took nine rounds of a shootout, but eventually Jason Zucker scored the game-winning goal for the Pittsburgh Penguins in their 5-4 come-from-behind victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Buffalo scored first early in the game thanks to nice passing by a trio of youngsters. Dylan Cozens and Jack Quinn set up Brett Murray's for the game's first goal that gave the Sabres a 1-0 lead nearly six minutes into the frame.
The team doubled the lead with another hard-working goal. Vinnie Hinostroza was able to slam home a rebound attempt at the top of the crease to give the Sabres a 2-0 advantage late in the first.
Buffalo finished the opening period with a 10-7 shots on goal advantage. Dustin Tokarsi stopped all seven Pittsburgh shots on goal, while the Sabres were 0-for-1 on the man advantage.
Henri Jokiharju was whistled for the first Sabres penalty of the night early in the second period. The defenseman was called for a tripping minor nearly a minute-and-a-half into the second, but Buffalo was able to kill off the two-minute penalty.
Pittsburgh was able to score less than five minutes into the middle stanza thanks to a loose puck in the slot. Drew O'Connor was able to skate in-between the faceoff dots and spin around with the puck to beat Tokarski. The Penguins' first goal of the night trimmed the Sabres lead to 2-1.
Aaron Dell took over in goal almost exactly halfway through the game. Tokarski faced 14 shots on goal and made 13 saves before being replaced.
Victor Olofsson restored the lead to two for the Sabres with a power play goal late in the second. The forward was able to beat a sprawled Casey DeSmith with Cozens crashing the net, as well. Olofsson's special teams goal made it 3-1 Buffalo with about three minutes to go in the period.
O'Connor scored his second goal of the night four minutes into the third period to cut the Sabres' lead to 3-2. Filip Hållander and Anthony Angello were credited with the assists on Pittsburgh's second goal of the night. Radim Zahorna's goal midway through the third tied the score at 3-3.
Anders Bjork's first goal of the preseason came with eight minutes remaining in the third period and gave the Sabres a 4-3 lead. Cody Eakin received the lone assist on the go-ahead goal for Buffalo.
However, Kasperi Kapanen scored the game-tying goal with less than a minute remaining in regulation. His score came with traffic in front of the net, with the Penguins pressing on Dell. Jeff Carter and Kris Letang assisted on the goal that tied the score at 4-4.
Neither side scored in the 3-on-3 overtime period, with Buffalo outshooting the Penguins, 3-2 in the five-minute period.
The Sabres ended up fighting back in the shootout after a 2-0 deficit following Pittsburgh's first two shooters. Goals from Jack Quinn and Arttu Ruotsalainen were able to extend the shootout into extra rounds.
In the end, it took nine rounds for a winner to be crowned, and it was Pittsburgh who got the go-ahead goal from Jason Zucker and a save from DeSmith to preserve the victory.
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Goal Summary
First Period:
BUF: 5:40 - Brett Murray (1) (Jack Quinn, Dylan Cozens); 15:33 - Vinnie Hinostroza (1) (Arttu Ruotsalainen, Tage Thompson)
PIT: NONE
Second Period:
BUF: 16:57 - Victor Olofsson (1) PPG (Dylan Cozens, J-J Peterka)
PIT: 5:57 - Drew O'Connor (1) (Danton Heinen, Bryan Rust)
Third Period:
BUF: 12:00 - Anders Bjork (1) (Cody Eakin)
PIT: 3:54 - Drew O'Connor (2) (Filip Hållander, Anthony Angello); 9:58 - Radim Zahorna (1) (Kasperi Kapanen, Jason Zucker); 19:07 - Kasperi Kapanen (3) (Jeff Carter, Kris Letang)
Overtime:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
Shootout:
PIT: Kasperi Kapanen - GOAL
BUF: Dylan Cozens - Save
PIT: Bryan Rust - GOAL
BUF: Jack Quinn - GOAL
PIT: Kris Letang - Save
BUF: Arttu Ruotsalainen - GOAL
PIT: Jeff Carter - Save
BUF: J-J Peterka - Save
PIT: Danton Heinen - GOAL
BUF: Tage Thompson - GOAL
PIT: Drew O'Connor - Miss
BUF: Victor Olofsson - Save
PIT: Radim Zahorna - Save
BUF: Rasmus Dahlin - Save
PIT: Teddy Blueger - Save
BUF: Vinnie Hinostroza - Save
PIT: Jason Zucker - GOAL
BUF: Anders Bjork - Save
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Penalty Summary:
First Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: 17:35 - Brock McGinn (Tripping - 2 min.)
Second Period:
BUF: 1:48 - Henri Jokiharju (Tripping - 2 min.); 7:51 - Cody Eakin (Hooking - 2 min.)
PIT: 15:50 - Filip Hållander (Holding - 2 min.)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
Overtime:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
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What's next:
The blue and gold have one more exhibition tilt before opening the regular season on Thursday, Oct. 14 against the Montreal Canadiens. Buffalo welcomes the Detroit Red Wings to KeyBank Center on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. ET. Catch all of the action on the flagship home of the Sabres Radio Network - WGR Sports Radio 550. Pregame coverage with Brian Koziol begins at 2 p.m. ET.
The shootout went nine rounds before Pittsburgh defeated Buffalo