The Penguins closed out an up-and-down preseason with a workmanlike 3-1 victory over the Sabres in Buffalo yesterday afternoon.
Sidney Crosby staked us to an early lead nine minutes into the first period. Sprung on a partial breakaway thanks to a heady neutral-zone feed from Tommy Novak, our captain lasered a slapper over the shoulder of Ukka-Pekka Luukkonen, ticketed for the upper-right corner.
Ville Koivunen extended our lead to 2-0 a couple minutes later, jamming home a rebound following a classic wraparound attempt by Bryan Rust. Ville helped set the play in motion with a slick pass to Rusty. Hopefully a sign of good things to come from the $32-million kid.
The Pens nearly padded their advantage in the second period. However, would-be goals by Evgeni Malkin (goalie interference) and Rickard Rakell (offsides) were challenged and overturned.
Sabres forward Ryan McLeod struck on the power play at 11:30 of the third period with Geno in the sin-bin to narrow the gap to a goal. But Nick Robertson added an empty-netter for the good guys at 18:55 to provide the final margin of victory.
In the good-news, bad-news department, Arturs Šilovs atoned for his dreadful performance against the Wings on Tuesday night with a solid outing, stopping 23 of 24 shots. However, Rust exited during the second period with an upper-body injury. He’s currently being evaluated.
For the curious, here are the lines and defensive tandems deployed by coach Dan Muse.
| FORWARDS |
| 1st Line: Robertson-Crosby-Rakell |
| 2nd Line: Malkin-Novak-Chinakhov |
| 3rd Line: Koivunen-Lapierre-Rust |
| 4th Line: McGroarty-Broz-Hållander |
| DEFENSE |
| 1st Pair: Carlile-Karlsson |
| 2nd Pair: Girard-Korczak |
| 3rd Pair: van Riemsdyk-Letang |
Due to league rules governing the preseason, Connor Dewar and Elmer Söderblom didn’t dress. They figure to begin the season on the fourth line next to Filip Hållander. If Rust misses time, Rutger McGroarty will likely replace him.
The defensive pairs appear to be set.
More Cuts
Defensemen Jake Livanavage, Owen Pickering and Chase Pietila, forward Rafaël Harvey-Pinard and goalie Cam Johnson were assigned to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
Veteran defender Caleb Jones was placed on waivers. If he clears, he’ll join the Baby Pens as well.
