BUFFALO, N.Y. — After Wednesday’s practice, coach Mike Sullivan cautioned that his Penguins could not take the lowly Buffalo Sabres lightly a night later.
“Just because a team is going through a period where it’s a struggle doesn’t mean they don't have good players and competitive players,” Sullivan said. “On any given night, if you don’t bring your ‘A’ game, you run the risk of getting beat.”
The Penguins left their “A” game in Pittsburgh. But a C-plus performance was good enough for a 5-2 win over the Sabres on Thursday at KeyBank Center.
Style points are nice but insignificant. It was the two points in the East Division standings that matter. And they must continue to stack those up during a favorable stretch that in the final 30 games has them playing seven more against Buffalo, eight versus New Jersey and another two against the New York Rangers.
Thursday’s win was the 300th of Sullivan’s career. He is the fourth American to hit the milestone. And only 12 coaches in NHL history reached it in fewer games.
The Penguins got the jump on the Sabres by scoring 6:27 into the game. Kasperi Kapanen picked off a pass then skated in alone on his now-nightly breakaway. His deke pulled goalie Jonas Johansson out of position. The winger then slid the puck over to Evgeni Malkin, who tapped it in for his third goal in four games.
Over the last 10 games, those linemates have clicked for a combined nine goals and 13 assists, several of those tallies coming on the rush like that goal there.
After Malkin made it 1-0, Tristan Jarry, who has struggled on the road this season, somehow let big Tage Thompson score on a wraparound 27 seconds later.
Entering Thursday, Jarry was 2-5-1 on the road with a .858 save percentage. His goals-against average is more than a goal higher on the road than at home.
Three minutes into the second period, Brandon Tanev barged in on a breakaway and whipped a backhand between the legs of Johansson to make it 2-1. But the Penguins allowed the Sabres to tie it up again. This time it was Victor Olofsson who one-timed a pass from ex-Penguins forward Riley Sheahan past Jarry.
About three minutes later, the Penguins surged ahead again. They passed the puck around on their power play. It came to Sidney Crosby, who from behind the cage found Jake Guentzel. Guentzel picked his spot from the right faceoff dot.
In the final minutes of that period, the Sabres clanked a couple off the posts.
Anthony Angello scored his first goal of 2021 early in the third to make it 4-2.
That was the first goal scored by a Penguins fourth-liner since January. Most nights, whatever fourth trio Sullivan sent out there provided little in terms of energy or offense. But Angello, Mark Jankowski and Colton Sceviour were more noticeable Thursday, including a threatening shift during the first period.
Angello’s first and last NHL goal came more than a year ago, a Feb. 18, 2020 win in which he was only in the lineup that night because Malkin took a sick day.
The Penguins kept the Sabres under wraps the rest of the way to secure a win. Bryan Rust tacked on an empty-netter of Jarry’s long-range try went wide.
Thursday was just the second time all season that the Penguins never trailed in a game. Of their 16 victories, they had to come from behind in 14 of them.
Entering the night, the Sabres had lost eight games in a row and 13 of their last 15. All-Star center Jack Eichel is out until next week with an injury. And there have been rumblings that coach Ralph Kruger is on the hot seat and Eichel could soon be on the trade block. Other than that, things are going great up in Buffalo.
“Sometimes when you go out there and you have nothing to lose, that’s when you’re the most dangerous,” Kris Letang said Wednesday, after the Penguins had a practice then hit the road. “We can’t go in there thinking about the records. We have to go in there thinking about our game and playing the right way.”
The Penguins, meanwhile, have recently started to build momentum. They arrived here with a three-game winning streak and wins in eight of their last 11. Thursday wasn’t their best showing. But they made it four in a row nonetheless.
The Penguins are scheduled to conclude their two-game set against the Sabres here at KeyBank Center on Saturday. Up next after that are the Boston Bruins.
