The first opportunity for fans to see the Buffalo Sabres score some goals at KeyBank Center this fall ended with little of either being in the building. The Sabres only managed to score once with a Tage Thompson second period tally, and dropped a 2-1 decision to the Pittsburgh Penguins in front of an announced crowd of 6,800 on Friday night.
Pittsburgh opened up the scoring late in an otherwise low-impact first period on a Dominik Simon backhand shot at the 16:45 mark. Simon was able to get a clean shot away on net despite four Sabres being in the area and goaltender Craig Anderson having a clear line of sight to the puck.
Sabres forward Matej Pekar and Penguins forward Jordy Bellerive both attempted to pick up the energy in the building by getting into a fight at the 5:49 mark, with Pekar taking the brunt of the punishment for his troubles.
Casey DeSmith started the first half of the game in net for Pittsburgh and recorded saves on all 11 shots faced.
Buffalo was able to equalize on Thompson's power play goal at the 15:40 mark of the second period. The Sabres were able to win the faceoff inside the Pittsburgh zone, with Rasmus Dahlin and Casey Mittelstadt able to maintain possession and get the puck to Thompson, who had placed himself below the near post. Thompson got the puck on net with the help from an unfortunately placed Penguins defenseman, and the deflection got behind Pittsburgh goaltender Louis Domingue shortly after he came in relief of DeSmith.
However, it took under a minute for Pittsburgh to re-gain the league on a goal from Michael Chaput.
Anderson's night would end with 18 saves on 20 shots faced. Dustin Tokarski came in for Buffalo in the third period and needed to do little work with six saves.
At the other end, Domingue stopped 20 of the 21 shots he faced in his 15 minutes of game time.
Buffalo managed to fire 15 shots on Domingue and the Penguins in the third period in an attempt to tie the game at 2-2, but the effort was all for naught at the end of the night. The loss drops the Sabres to 1-2-0 this preseason.
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GAME SUMMARY
Goal Summary:
First Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: 16:45 - Dominik Simon (1) (Valtteri Puustinen, Michael Chaput)
Second Period:
BUF: 14:40 - Tage Thompson (1) PPG (Casey Mittelstadt, Rasmus Dahlin)
PIT: 15:33 - Michael Chaput (Mitch Reinke)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
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Penalty Summary
First Period:
BUF: 5:59 - Matej Pekar (Fighting - 5 min.); 8:22 - Ryan MacInnis (Cross-checking - 2 min.); 18:04 - Matej Pekar (Hooking - 2 min.)
PIT: 5:59 - Jordy Bellerive (Fighting - 5 min.); 10:50 - Kyle Olson (Cross-checking - 2 min.)
Second Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: 14:23 - Mitch Reinke (Hooking - 2 min.)
Third Period:
BUF: NONE
PIT: NONE
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Losi and Gangi Three Stars of the Game:
1.) Michael Chaput - PIT
2.) Tage Thompson - BUF
3.) Dominik Simon - PIT
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What's next:
The Sabres will host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Monday, Oct. 4 at KeyBank Center. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. ET with Dan Dunleavy and Rob Ray on the call on the Sabres Radio Network and WGR Sports Radio 550.
