Pre-game
John Marino loses his first game of the season, which puts Chad Ruhwedel back on the team for the first time in almost a month. On the other hand, penguins are the same as recently.
First period
Pittsburgh gets a power game at the start, but does little with it, however, they still score first at 6:27 of the first period. Kasperi Kapanen is aggressive in the forecheck and receives a pass from Casey Mittlestadt who for some reason is trying a short pass. Kapanen is on a clear trail, but he makes an unpredictable pass to Evgeni Malkin, who receives an easy finish for his seventh goal of the season. 1-0 Pens.
Just 27 seconds later, the Sabers recovered that goal. Tage Thompson comes out with the disc of a Sidney Crosby board battle (!?!?!?) And Brian Dumoulin leaves the front of the net. The 6’7 Thompson is able to take a quick lap that is somehow under Tristan Jarry’s stick and his cushions as well. Strange game around. Meh. 1-1.
Mike Matheson takes a penalty for tripping, but Pens PK does its job.
Shooting ends in 9-6 Pens in the first period. Buffalo close by, but overall the Pens seem relaxed and in control everywhere except on the scoreboard.
Second period
At the start of the second, it’s Brandon Tanev keeping warm with his sixth goal of the season coming from running, using his speed and hitting the backhand that goalkeeper Jonas Johansson is, well, not really sure what he’s doing there. 2-1 Pens only 3:24 in the second.
However, those damned Sabers are not yet ready to leave. Riley Sheahan skates towards the corner, Pittsburgh has defensive numbers back, but no one intercepts the central pass to Victor Olofsson, who has enough space to kick. A little indifferent as a routine game that quickly turns into a 2-2 draw.
Pens persist, Buffalo serves his second penalty in the game and Pittsburgh passing game make mistakes, power game scores. Sidney Crosby hits Jake Guentzel with a pass and, with great patience and precision, Guentzel hits a long shot, with the goalkeeper’s leg bending over him after he had to push to reach the nearest post. 3-2 Pens.
Collin Miller hits the post twice in the same turn … If the Sabers were unlucky, they would be out of luck. Maybe this is not really luck, who knows. Anyway, it’s a bad thing.
The shots in the second are 13-9 in favor of Pittsburgh, 22-15 Pens in general in the game.
Third period
Zach Aston-Reese buries Dylan Cozens on the boards and then fights Miller. No more penalties, but Cozens looks a lot worse for wear and tear as he makes his way out of the ice with help.
A little later, Anthony Angello strikes quickly, knocking over an unstable puck and then opening a beautiful shot to extend the lead to 4-2.
Marcus Pettersson receives a hook penalty to give the Sabers a second power play, but the Pens again survive.
Buffalo pulls the goalkeeper with 2:25 left. Jarry kicks the empty net, but it misses. Bryan Rust turns on the jets to beat the cover and hits a goal for additional measure. 5-2.
The shots on the third were 8-5 Buffalo when a little scoring effect started.
Some thoughts
- A four-game streak for Tanev now, always good when the lower lines can warm up and launch in some attack.
- Speaking of which, the fourth row with a rare goal. Great for Angello to get his second career goal and the first of the season against the local team, when the Albany native entered the scoring against his favorite childhood team. Angello hit the post in the first period, the fourth row was gaining a positive momentum, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before they got through, and they did.
- And play six games with consecutive points for Malkin too. The Kapanen-Malkin connection is worth the price of admission, if you know, you can pay to go to the games and everything. But sometimes it seems that they are just showing off their skills and what they can do. So much fun to watch.
- With Marino out tonight, no Pens defender has played every game this season. Marino was under “maintenance” yesterday, which usually means healthy enough to play the next game. And he took the morning skate. Did he adjust or aggravate anything there? The Pens knew he was 85-90% healthy (probably good enough to play if it was a playoff game), but figured out why not let him rest against a weak opponent? A somewhat healthy scratch, if you like? It’s probably not a bad idea to reset Marino, and he’s probably less than 100% healthy, so do what you want.
- This is only the second victory of the season in which the Penguins did not have to recover. But even so, it was a 1-1 game against the worst team that they will be playing throughout the season, so this is almost the same. At least they had room to breathe during the third period and did not have much stress during the period.
- Buffalo reached 4 posts. None were objective. Maybe the season’s story for them, but I can’t find a way to make something work for them.
- I don’t think it’s a big deal, but it’s noteworthy that the first line of Pens de Guentzel-Crosby-Rust with Dumouin-Letang was on the ice for Buffalo’s two goals against … And the strikers didn’t score either goal from 5×5 to (even the EN was a 5v6). Both were strange plays and collapses, not the end of the world.
- On the other hand, the Pens score 5 goals with nothing from the Crosby line in the pair, besides the EN. This is a great sign of spreading the attack (all the other lines of attack scored one goal each, plus one in power play). First 10-15 games this season, if the Crosby line was not producing, there was little chance of Pittsburgh winning.
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The Pens needed a win in this one, with most of the “good” teams in the division (Boston, NYI and Washington), all looking to be on their way to victory. And Philly is losing out on regulations for the Caps to start putting their feet on the fire a little bit. The Pens needed two points tonight and in this situation to keep pace, and two points they earn from that.
The Buffalo rematch is coming Saturday night for the Pens, as they try to continue building what is now a four-game winning streak.