Taking nine losses in a row is not a situation the Buffalo Sabres thought they'd be in for the 2020-21 season. However, the Pittsburgh Penguins made sure to make that happen on Thursday night with a 5-2 win at KeyBank Center.
The Sabres found themselves down early before trading a couple of goals with the Penguins over the first couple of periods, but the Penguins pulled away in the second and were clearly the better team for the entire contest.
Let's take a look at three observations from Thursday night's game:
1.) Power play scoreless yet again
The Sabres started the year struggling to score at 5-on-5, while exploding with goals on the man advantage.
They're now scoring those 5-on-5 goals, but they're being completely left out to dry by their power play unit.
Buffalo's early-season success with the man advantage has them in fifth place in the NHL with a 27.9% success rate, but the Sabres are 0-for-13 over the last eight games. They haven't scored a power play goal since Feb. 25 against the New Jersey Devils.
2.) Goaltending remains an issue
Even if the Sabres played well enough to keep up with the Penguins, the one thing that continues to sink them is goaltending.
Sabres goaltender Jonas Johansson had a nice start on Tuesday night against the Philadelphia Flyers. The young netminder made a number of key saves that kept Buffalo ahead until the very end when the Flyers scored on the power play, bringing the game to overtime before the Flyers won in a shootout.
The Sabres received no such luck from the returning starter on Thursday.
Johansson had some shots faced where he had no chance, like the first Penguins goal from forward Evgeni Malkin, taking a last second drop pass from Kasperi Kapanen before depositing in the net untouched.
On the Penguins' second goal, Brandon Tanev was in alone but had some pressure from Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen. Johansson set up for the shot but couldn't get his stick on the ice to close the five-hole.
Buffalo would answer back with a goal from Victor Olofsson, but the next Penguins goal from Jake Guentzel ended up being the game-winner, and it was a doozy.
On the power play, Sidney Crosby set up shop behind the Buffalo net before finding an open Guentzel at the left circle. Guentzel hesitated for a second before finding an open spot on the Sabres netminder, putting the Penguins up for good. It should have been a save that you expect your goaltender to make.
Johansson is now 0-4-1 on the year with a 3.91 goals-against average and an .883 save percentage.
Sabres goaltender Linus Ullmark can not come back soon enough, but by the time he comes back, it's likely not even going to matter.
3. Crosby assist keeps him hot against Buffalo
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby loves to play the Sabres.
In 43 career games against Buffalo, Crosby has scored 21 goals and 43 assists for 64 points. He averages 1.49 points per-game against Sabres, which is his third-highest production rate against all other NHL teams. Crosby only has a better production rate against the Winnipeg Jets and the New York Islanders.
There's not much else to say about that. Crosby has owned the Sabres for his entire career.
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Buffalo won't play Friday, but they're back at it against the Penguins on Saturday night at KeyBank Center.
We'll start things off at 6 p.m. EST with the Paul William Beltz Pregame Show with Brian Koziol. Brian will take you through the hour with player and coach interviews, plus pregame analysis from Paul Hamilton. Puck drop is scheduled for just after 7 p.m EST on the radio flagship of the Sabres - WGR Sports Radio 550.
