Brandon Sutter scored twice and Marc-Andre Fleury recorded his league-leading tenth shutout in a regular season finale that clinched a playoff berth for the recently downtrodden Pittsburgh Penguins (43-27-12, 98 pts) by way of a 2-0 victory over the last-place Buffalo Sabres at First Niagara Center on Saturday.
Sutter broke a scoreless tie at 14:23 of the second period, burying a backhand opportunity past Anders Lindback for a 1-0 lead. Eight minutes into the third period, it was Sutter again, adding to the lead minutes after having left the ice due to taking a shot to the face. The third-line center finished the season with 21 goals and was the savior in a game that the team needed to win in order to control their own fate in the wild card playoff race. A Penguins loss and a Boston Bruins win would have eliminated Pittsburgh from playoff contention, though Boston trailed in Tampa Bay 2-1 as the final seconds ticked away in Buffalo.
Fleury made 28 saves to earn another clean slate, surpassing Montreal’s Carey Price and Washington’s Braden Holtby in the shutout column on the last day of the season. It is both a personal and team record for the 30-year old goalie. He will need to continue in his role as the team’s most valuable player (as voted by the players) in order for the team to compete with Henrik Lundqvist and the first-place New York Rangers. The Rangers led all of hockey with 113 points and enter as the winners of the Metropolitan Division and home-ice advantage throughout the postseason.
Assisting on Sutter’s two goals were Blake Comeau and Nick Spaling on the first and Daniel Winnik and Patric Hornqvist on the second. Sidney Crosby did not record a point and finishes the regular season behind John Tavares (New York Islanders) and Jamie Benn (Dallas Stars), each of whom scored two points on Saturday.
Details regarding the NHL playoff schedule and the opener of the Rangers-Penguins series will soon be released by the league. Games 3 and 4 will be played at Consol Energy Center. This will be the ninth consecutive playoff appearance for the Penguins.
