As a general rule, games between our Penguins and Buffalo are usually tame affairs featuring plenty of skating and up-tempo play, but little in the way of WWE-type action.
That script blew out the nearest exit door last night at PPG Paints Arena. Playing Sgt. Slaughter to the Sabres’ Iron Sheik (sorry…I’m dating myself), the Pens took it to the visitors physically as well as artistically en route to a 3-2 overtime triumph, our sixth win in a row.
The fuse on the powder keg was lit with 6:43 left in the first period, when Zach Aston-Reese rammed Sabres d-man Jacob Bryson into the boards, drawing an immediate challenge from towering Tage Thompson. Despite giving away seven inches in height to his fired-up foe, ZAR hung tough and even landed a solid right at the end.
The rough stuff continued early in the second period when Sam Lafferty flattened Vinnie Hinostroza with a high-speed check near the boards. In an instant he was taken to task by rookie Casey Fitzgerald, son of former Pens assistant GM Tom Fitzgerald, resulting in another spirited go. For the record, Fitzgerald pounded the daylights out of the much larger Anthony Angello in a 2019 scrap. But Lafferty held his own.
Sandwiched in and around the fights…a veritable season’s worth for our Pens…was a hockey game. A pretty entertaining one, I might add.
The Pens opened the scoring at 5:53 of the first period with a power-play goal by our not-so-secret weapon Evan Rodrigues. Piping hot and brimming with confidence, E-Rod struck on a sizzling wrister, this time from the top of the right circle, off a feathery setup from Kris Letang. Credit big Jeff Carter for taking away goalie Malcolm Subban’s eyes with a classic net-front screen.
Our boys widened their lead to 2-zip at 6:45 of the second period thanks to some intense pressure from the Grind Line. The puck pinballed from ZAR to Teddy Blueger to Mike Matheson, off Subban’s pads and onto the stick blade of Brock McGinn, who wired the puck home for his eighth goal of the season.
Down but far from out, the Sabres countered at 12:35 on a goal by Zemgus Girgensons, who picked up a rebound off the mask of Tristan Jarry and swatted it into a wide-open cage. They knotted it up at 2-apiece with just over five minutes remaining in the third period when super-skilled Rasmus Dahlin cashed in on a back-door play, thanks to nifty cross-ice feed from Rasmus Asplund.
Things went from bad to worse for our guys when Carter was whistled for tripping with five seconds left in regulation. Which meant we opened overtime on the short-end of a 4-on-3 for nearly two full minutes.
Mercifully our PK, backed by a couple of huge stops by Jarry, rose to the occasion with yet another clutch kill. Sprung from the box and eager to make amends, Carter won a key faceoff at center ice and rambled to the net on a 2-on-1. Letang slipped a beautiful pass between the legs of Henri Jokiharju and “Carts” did the rest, directing the puck through Subban’s wickets for the game winner.
Puckpourri
The Pens outshot the Sabres by a margin of 48-21…including a mind-blowing 36-10 in the first and third periods combined. We piled up a ridiculous edge in shot attempts (77-38), as well as scoring chances (44-17) and high danger chances (17-6).
Carter earned top-star honors thanks to his overtime winner and seven shots on goal. He has nine goals…a 28-goal pace for the season. Rodrigues (a goal and nine shots on goal) earned the second star. E-Rod’s goal, his 10th, set a new career high.
Although he didn’t earn a star, Letang finished a plus-one with two huge assists and four shots on goal. In case you missed it, Mark Madden makes a compelling pitch to re-sign “Tanger” over on the Pittsburgh Tribune Review.
Blueger, Matheson and Sidney Crosby also picked up helpers. Sid has 18 points on the season, 16 in his last 10 games.
Our PK is reaching epic success levels. We’ve killed off 35 straight opposing power plays (a staggering 93 percent success rate for the campaign).
Ex-Pen Mark Jankowski played 17:58 for the Sabres and won 50 percent of his draws. He was on the ice for Girgensons’ goal. Subban stopped 45 of 48 shots in an impressive performance.
The Pens (16-8-5, 37 points) continue to gain on the Metro leaders. We’re four points behind third-place Carolina, with an eight-point bulge over fifth-place Columbus. We hold a six-point lead over Detroit in the race for the top wild card spot.
Up next, the Devils in Newark on Sunday, following by a return matchup on Tuesday night.
