Jake McCabe stopped the bleeding, forcing a Bryan Rust turnover and walking in alone for a shorthanded goal.
To start the second period, the Sabres were flying, forcing turnovers and were all over Matt Murray, but they couldn’t score. Rasmus Dahlin set up Jeff Skinner alone in front for a one-timer, but the save was made by Murray.
Marcus Johansson goes in 2-on-0 and telegraphs his pass to Jimmy Vesey, allowing Murray to cheat and dive across for the save. Immediately following that play, Vesey gets in behind the defense and is stopped again.
Through the first 12 and a half minutes of the second period, the Sabres didn’t allow a shot. Johan Larsson then backed into Murray, taking him down as Rasmus Ristolainen hit the post, and the league’s worst penalty kill had to take the ice and Pittsburgh scored despite being dominated.
Before the period was over, Buffalo had another Grade-A chance when Skinner set up Wayne Simmonds on a 2-on-1, but he was stopped by Murray too. Johansson had the rebound directly in front, but thought stickhandling out of position would be a better idea than shooting. He said on the postgame show that he thought there was a body in the way and thought he needed to move, but the puck spun on him.
Johansson didn’t miss early in the third period when former Penguin Dominik Kahun came down the left wing side. The thing I didn’t like is Kahun has three points in his five games and only played three shifts in the third period when his team needed goals. Ralph Krueger admitted after the game that was a mistake and he should’ve played more.
Not only did the Sabres fail on numerous Grade-A scoring chances, but after the first 11 minutes where he made numerous fantastic saves, Jonas Johansson was not good. He could not make a save when his team needed him, especially on a weak backhand from Sidney Crosby.
In the end, it was the same old story. The team couldn’t score on its chances and couldn’t get a save from its goalie. Pittsburgh’s power play went 1-for-3, but Buffalo did get a shorthanded goal to even the special teams battle. All that adds up to a five-game losing streak.