The Pittsburgh Penguins won games when Paul Martin and Kris Letang went down with injuries. They slugged through close battles when Evgeni Malkin was out, and they found a way to shutout back to back opponents without the help of Marc-Andre Fleury.
But in their first full game without Sidney Crosby, the Penguins came out flat and couldn’t come back from a three goal deficit.
The Buffalo Sabres scored four goals in the first two periods and cruised to a 4-1 victory over the Penguins to stop Pittsburgh’s win streak at 15 games.
The Penguins came out flat against the Sabres who eventually chased Tomas Vokoun early in the second period. The shutout streak spanning over two and a half games ended 10:24 into the opening period.
With the Penguins on the power play, Jarome Iginla’s stick broke in half on a slap shot from the point. Jason Pominville skated down the ice with the puck but Matt Niskanen recovered to take the puck away in his own zone. Unfortunately, Niskanen’s strong defense play was erased by an errant no-look pass that result in a turnover. Kevin Porter stole the puck and snapped it past Vokoun to give Buffalo the 1-0 lead.
With Mike Weber still serving a double minor for boarding and unsportsmanlike conduct, Jarome Iginla got on the board to tie the score at one a piece. Evgeni Malkin reversed the puck to Chris Kunitz in the corner and Kunitz found Iginla in front of the net for the slam dunk. The goal was Iginla’s first as a Penguin and 526th in his career.
The Sabres retook the lead with less than two minutes remaining in the opening period with a goal from Steve Ott. Jason Pominville took a long stretch pass and dropped the puck back to Ott who gunned a shot from the top of the left wing circle past the stick side of Vokoun.
Buffalo extended their lead to 3-1 2:24 into the second period when Cody Hodgson slammed a wraparound chance into a wide open cage. Kevin Porter scored again just a minute later when his centering pass deflected off of Deryk Engelland’s skate through the five-hole of the goaltender.
Dan Bylsma pulled Vokoun for Marc-Andre Fleury who stopped all sixteen Buffalo shots, but the Penguins committed five penalties, disrupting any offensive rhythm.
The Penguins went into this game without the services of Kris Letang, Paul Martin and Sidney Crosby. Letang is considered roughly a week from returning after breaking his toe against the Winnipeg Jets. Crosby isn’t due back until the end of the regular season after breaking his jaw in Sunday’s game, while Paul Martin is expected to be back for the the second round of the playoffs, should the Penguins make it that far.
However, Buffalo was missing some key pieces of their own. The Sabres’ top goal scorer, Thomas Vanek, sat out with an upper body injury while defenseman Robyn Regehr was traded last night to the Los Angeles Kings for two second round picks.
The Penguins wont have to worry about this loss for too long as they face the New York Rangers tomorrow night at MSG.
- Pittsburgh’s 15 game winning streak tied them for the second longest streak in NHL history. The last team to win 15 games in a row was the 1982 New York Islanders who went on to win the Stanley Cup.
- Tomas Vokoun’s shutout streak ended at 208:24.
- Brooks Orpik appeared his 622nd, breaking the franchise record for most games played by a defenseman.
Three Stars
- Kevin Porter
- Jason Pominville
- Steve Ott
Photo courtesy of NHL.com
