In the penultimate game of their 2020-21 season, the Buffalo Sabres were boat-raced in Pittsburgh to the tune of an 8-4 final by the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.
Unfortunately for Sabres goalie Michael Houser, his first career loss came in front of friends and family to a Penguins team he grew up cheering for.
Buffalo got the scoring started just 2:45 into the game. Entering the zone on an odd-man rush with Jeff Skinner, Drake Caggiula opted to keep the puck himself and wired his first goal in a Sabres sweater past the short-side of Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry.
Pittsburgh tied things up at the halfway point of the first period. Veteran deadline acquisition Jeff Carter's shot was initially ruled no-goal, but the play was eventually reviewed by the league offices in Toronto. They deemed it a goal after the puck fully eclipsed the goal line.
Less than two minutes later, Carter doubled up on a power play. His 14th goal of the season, and second of the opening frame, came with Arttu Ruotsalainen in the penalty box for tripping.
In the second, the Sabres potted another early-period goal to knot the score at 2-2. Tage Thompson accepted a slick cross-ice pass from Casey Mittelstadt that Thompson deposited behind Jarry for his eighth goal of the year.
The game only remained tied for 1:04 before Carter completed his hat-trick against Houser and the Sabres, making the score 3-2 Pittsburgh.
Not a minute went by, though, before Caggiula responded for Buffalo. Just 37 seconds later, in fact, Caggiula's second of the evening once again knotted the score, this time at 3-3.
The back-and-forth jockeying for the lead would end there in the middle stanza, as the Penguins scored consecutive goals about a minute apart later in the period to extend their edge to 5-3. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forward Jared McCann did the scoring for the fourth and fifth goals, respectively.
In total, Buffalo and Pittsburgh combined for five goal in a span of less than four minutes (3:53) in the second period.
In the third period, the string of Penguins goals reached three in a row when Carter scored his fourth of the night, as the veteran continued to terrorize Houser and the Sabres.
The fourth-straight Pittsburgh goal came with 13:35 to play in the game, when the score ballooned to 7-3 after Sidney Crosby re-directed defenseman Kris Letang's shot in past Houser.
Buffalo finally broke up the scoring party with 9:45 to go in the contest, as Skinner broke his goalless drought by netting his seventh of the season on a power play.
Unfortunately for the Sabres, the Penguins got right back to business 3:20 later when Kasperi Kapanen got in on the fun. His wrist shot beat Houser for the forward's 11th goal of the season.
Kapanen's tally capped the scoring barrage against the Sabres, as 8-4 stood as the final.
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Jeff Carter - PIT
2.) Kasperi Kapanen - PIT
3.) Frederick Gaudreau - PIT
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What's Next:
The season wraps up on Saturday against this same Penguins team in Pittsburgh. Puck drop at PPG Paints Arena is set for 3 p.m. ET with the Paul William Beltz Pregame Show with Brian Koziol starting at 2 p.m. ET on the radio home of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.