The Penguins defeated the Buffalo Sabres last night at KeyBank Center 4-3 in overtime. Forward Rickard Rakell had a goal and assist, forward Evgeni Malkin had two assists, extending his assist streak to four games, and goalie Tristan Jarry, who is now 8-0-2 in his past ten starts, made 28 saves to help improve the Pens to 15-8-4 on the season, and 9-1-1 in their past 11 games.
The goal-scoring was kicked off at 15:36 in the second period when forward Jake Guentzel scored on the power play to give the Pens a 1-0 lead and extend his point streak to six games. The Penguins improved to 6-for-20 on the power play in their past five games. At 18:08, forward Victor Olofsson would tie the game for the Sabres. Sixty-seven seconds later, forward Jeff Skinner would give the Sabres a 2-1 lead.
Nearly three minutes into the third period, Rakell would tie the game for the Pens at 2-2. At 16:30, forward Brock McGinn would give the Penguins a 3-2 lead. At 18:30, forward Kyle Okposo would tie the game at 3-3 for the Sabres during a 6-on-4. With 22 seconds left in the game, some drama occurred after Jake Guentzel would wack Sabres goaltender Craig Anderson’s glove after he made the save, leading Jeff Skinner to retaliate against Guentzel. Both were slashing each other. However, Skinner then cross-checked Guentzel in the face, leaving him bloodied. Skinner got a five-minute major and game misconduct and has received a three-game suspension for the play. Guentzel did return for overtime.
In overtime, while the Penguins were on the power play for Skinner’s cross-check, forward Jeff Carter scored just over a minute in to give the Penguins the 4-3 win.
Some notable stats from this game include Kasperi Kapanen now having six points (four goals and two assists) in his past five games after being a healthy scratch and Jeff Petry recording an assist on his 35th birthday.
