Sabres 4: Penguins 3: Buffalo's penalty killers steal the show from Crosby, Malkin in Pittsburgh
Sabres dressed to kill against Penguins
Vanek's 20th goal breaks third-period tie
PITTSBURGH — The Buffalo Sabres' penalty killers allowed their first goal in seven games. So what. They were still the First Star on Monday night.
The Sabres stood tall when short-handed, going 7 for 8 to key a 4-3 victory over Pittsburgh. The Sabres were perfect the four times they were down one man. Even more impressive, they killed off two of the Penguins' three five-on-threes. The third two-man disadvantage was a full two minutes, but it may as well have been three or four the way the Sabres were playing.
Buffalo got goals from all four lines, but of course it was Thomas Vanek who completed a comeback from two goals down in Mellon Arena. The NHL's top scorer notched his 20th of the season with 13:47 to play, snapping a 3-3 tie.
The rally sent the Sabres to their second straight win, and they closed their three-game road trip at 2-1. They flew home and host Tampa Bay on Wednesday in HSBC Arena.
"That's great to come home to and just keep rolling," Sabres defenseman Jaroslav Spacek said.
The Pittsburgh power play entered the game as the NHL's seventh-best at home, clicking 23 percent of the time. But the Penguins were no match for the Sabres, who have managed to turn the ugly phrase "road kill" into a good thing. The Sabres entered the game No. 3 in road penalty killing, and they showed why. They have turned aside 59 of 65 chances (90.8 percent) away from home.
Goaltender Ryan Miller made 29 saves, including 11 while his team was short-handed.
"If we got called, we just got ready to kill it and went to work," Sabres defenseman Toni Lydman said. "I thought we did a good job, maybe no one more than Ryan. He made some huge saves, especially on the five-on-three. He was a big, big difference."
The game started as most involving the Penguins usually do, with the Sid and Geno Show.
There's an occasional debate in hockey circles over which of Pittsburgh's Wonder Twins, Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin, is more talented. That's like debating Shakespeare and Dickens, or Jack and Crown. All are unreal. But in the first period Monday, no one was better than Malkin.
He set up both of Ruslan Fedotenko's goals, giving the home team a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes and offsetting Derek Roy's tally.
Crosby showed his credentials early in the second, giving the Penguins a 3-1 lead. He found a hole in the Buffalo defense to set up Kris Letang for a power-play one-timer with 1:31 gone. The five-on-three goal snapped the run of success for the penalty killers at 26 straight.
But the spotlight on Malkin and Crosby went dim after that.
"As long as we win, they can have all the highlights they want," Lydman said. "We'll take the two points."
Ales Kotalik cut the Sabres' deficit to 3-2, and the penalty killers took control. The Penguins earned another two-man advantage, this time for a full two minutes, thanks to a Vanek interference call and a bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.
But the Penguins were thwarted, and the Sabres rode the momentum. Daniel Paille poked home a loose puck in the crease, and the teams were tied, 3-3, heading into the final period.
"At 3-1, we started to play horribly," Penguins coach Michel Therrien said.
The game-winning goal was another reminder as to how hot Vanek has been. He didn't score his 20th goal last year until Feb. 12, yet he reached the number in Buffalo's 27th game this year.
"I just want to keep going," Vanek said. "Malkin's line in the first period was the difference for them. After that, I think we did a good job on him, and from there on in we didn't look back."
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