Pittsburgh, Pa. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - With the Sabres' NHL roster en route to Europe, Buffalo's prospects of tomorrow took down the Penguins, 3-2, on Tuesday night at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh.
The Penguins struck first, just three minutes into the opening period. A wrist shot from forward Marc Johnstone rings off the post, but defenseman Jack St. Ivany was up on the rush and backhanded a rebound past goalie Michael Houser to give Pittsburgh the early 1-0 advantage.
The blue and gold responded with consecutive goals later in the period.
First, it was center Graham Slaggert re-directing a puck past Alex Nedeljkovic off a shot from the point by defenseman Zach Metsa.
Then, just over two minutes later, defenseman Nikita Novikov wired a shot from just above the right faceoff circle past the glove of Nedeljkovic to make it 2-1, Sabres.
Pittsburgh tied the score in the early goings of the second period. Veteran forward Kevin Hayes crashed the net and put home a rebound in front of Houser to make it a 2-2 contest.
The game did not stay tied for long, as just two minutes later on an ensuing Sabres power play, Anton Wahlberg netted the third goal of the night for Buffalo after a net-front scramble for the puck.
Wahlberg's goal proved to be the eventual game-winning tally, as it was a war of attrition in the third period of play.
With Scott Ratzlaf taking over in the final 20 minutes of play in goal, the Sabres staved off the Penguins' late push, and held on to the 3-2 advantage to move to 3-0-0 in the 2024 preseason.
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SCORING RECAP
First Period:
BUF: 12:43 - Graham Slaggert (1) (Zach Metsa, Brendan Warren); 14:39 - Nikita Novikov (1) (Josh Dunne, Tyler Tullio)
PIT: 2:57 - Jack St. Ivany (1) (Marc Johnstone)
Second Period:
BUF: 6:42 - Anton Wahlberg (1) PPG (Tyler Tullio)
PIT: 4:32 - Kevin Hayes (1) (Cody Glass, Ryan Shea)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
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Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Anton Wahlberg - BUF
2.) Kevin Hayes - PIT
3.) Tyler Tullio - BUF
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What's next:
The Sabres head to Canadian Tire Centre to play the Ottawa Senators on Thursday night. Faceoff is slated for 7 p.m. ET and can be heard on WGR Sports Radio with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.