Sabres Win Fifth in a Row
Sabres 5 – Penguins 1 (en) Buffalo scored two short-handed, one power play, one even strength, and one empty net goal to beat their Eastern Conference nemesis Penguins in Pittsburgh.
This game was not without controversy as Pittsburgh’s (C) Malkin who played only six shifts and only 38 seconds into the second period was booted out of the game for his two-handed chop with his stick against Sabres Captain (D) Dahlin head/neck resulting in a five-minute Buffalo power play.
Evgeni Malkin gets game misconduct for slashing Rasmus Dahlin | ESPN NHL – YouTube
The ensuing five-minute power play produced the Sabres second goal as Buffalo (C) Norris scored when Pittsburgh’s (D) Letang was pushing Sabres (RW) Doan into his goaltender before the puck reached the Sabres center and the Pittsburgh Head Coach unsuccessfully used his coach’s challenge to prevent the score.
It took just about two minutes before Buffalo scored again with their second short-handed goal as Sabres (D) Power launched a shot from near the blue line and Sabres (RW) Tuch tipped the shot into the net for the 3-1 lead and less than four minutes later Sabres (D) Power also scored giving the Sabres a 4-1 lead they took into the third period.
The icing on the rink was watching Sabres (D) Samuelsson turning and whipping a shot from his right faceoff circle that rolled all the way down the ice into the Pittsburgh empty net for the 5-1 lead with approximately four minutes remaining in the game.
Buffalo’s (C) McLeod scored the game’s first goal shorthanded his fifth of the season which leads the NHL, the Sabres are now 27-4-1 when scoring first, Buffalo penalty killers stopped all five Penguins power plays, and the Sabres nearly won 60% of all faceoffs, a solid road victory before returning home for a five-game homestand beginning this Saturday afternoon at 5:30 pm EST versus the Nashville Predators.
Buffalo Winter 