Pittsburgh, P.A. (WGR Sports Radio 550) - Gunning for a fifth win in a row, the Buffalo Sabres are at PPG Paints Arena visiting the Pittsburgh Penguins. They will not be seeing Sidney Crosby, who is out for several weeks with an injury.
The Sabres opened the scoring exactly 12-minutes into first period, on a penalty kill. Pittsburgh boasted the NHL's third-best powerplay percentage coming into the night, but Ryan McLeod found a dent in the armor.
He knocked the puck away from defenseman Kris Letang at the blue line, and shot down the ice in all alone on goalie Arturs Silovs.
It was McLeod's league-leading fifth short-handed goal of the season.
2:48 later, the Penguins responded with a short-handed marker of their own. Forward Bryan Rust's power move beat Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and made it a 1-1 contest.
Things remained tied until 4:10 into the middle stanza. At that point, the Sabres began to bust the game wide open. The blue and gold widened the score to 4-1 by second period's end, thanks to Josh Norris, Alex Tuch and Owen Power.
First, Norris cashed in some loose change on a powerplay.
Buffalo was on that man advantage due to this dangerous retaliation from Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin on Rasmus Dahlin, which after review also led to a game misconduct on top of the major penalty.
Just 2:18 later, the Sabres' second short-handed goal of the night came courtesy of a re-direct from Tuch. The original shot was taken by Power, as the blue and gold kept the pressure applied in enemy territory.
Around the halfway point of the second, Power wired his second goal in as many games this week. It was his sixth goal of the campaign, and the first of the evening's five total goals that came at 5-on-5.
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SCORING RECAP:
First Period:
BUF: 12:00 - Ryan McLeod (12) SHG (Unassisted)
PIT: 14:48 - Bryan Rust (21) SHG (Ben Kindel)
Second Period:
BUF: 4:10 - Josh Norris (9) PPG (Josh Doan, Bowen Byram); 6:18 - Alex Tuch (25) SHG (Owen Power, Tage Thompson); 10:30 - Owen Power (6) (Josh Norris, Noah Ostlund)
PIT: NONE
Third Period:
BUF:
PIT:
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Bluestar Home Services Three Stars of the Game:
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What's Next:
The blue and gold host the Nashville Predators on Saturday night, March 7. Puck drop at KeyBank Center is at 5:30 p.m. ET with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call.