BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — The Sabres reverted to their discouraging habit of surrendering leads in a 5-2 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night at KeyBank Center.
Giving up goals 27 seconds apart to go from leading to trailing early in the second period, the Sabres lost for the 15th time in 28 occasions when scoring first this season. Buffalo’s 16 blown leads are more than every team except for the NHL’s last-place Chicago Blackhawks.
Owen Power scored his sixth goal on a power play late in the first period, but the Sabres were scoreless on four opportunities with the man-advantage after that. The Penguins went 3 for 4 on the power play. Zach Benson got his eighth goal in the third period after the Sabres pulled goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for an extra skater. Luukkonen made 14 saves in a game Buffalo lost with a 42-19 advantage in shots on goal.
“The biggest difference was, first, they out special teamed us,” coach Lindy Ruff said. But when you have the number of opportunities we had to put the puck in the back of the net … you’ve got to convert.”
In addition to his 40 saves, Pittsburgh goalie Alex Nedeljkovic excited the many Penguins fans in attendance when he scored into the empty net with 2:42 remaining in the game. Nedeljikovic also had an assist.
“I’ll give their goalie credit, he made some good saves,” Ruff said. “But I thought we made him look too good.”
After barely holding onto the lead in Wednesday night’s 4-2 defeat of the Carolina Hurricanes, the Sabres ceded to the Penguins quickly after the first intermission.
With Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin in the penalty box for high-sticking, Rickard Rakell got the tying goal for Pittsburgh on a power play at 1:41 into the second period, and Cody Glass sent a long pass to Anthony Beauvillier for the go-ahead goal shortly thereafter. Glass scored on a power play midway through the second, and Bryan Rust added a goal in the third period after setting up Rakell earlier.
With 82 shot attempts in the game, the Sabres had their chances to even the game. Benson missed on a shorthanded breakaway that chould’ve tied the score in the second period. Tage Thompson had several opportunities.
“We had a ton of great looks, had plenty of opportunities to capitalize on our chances and make it a different kind of game,” Thompson said. “Their goalie came up big, made some huge saves for them. Chalk it up to some bad puck luck for us, too – a couple that hit him and bounced the other way. Maybe if it bounces the other side it’s a tap-in. A couple posts. Yeah, we had a ton of chances tonight to score and just struggled to find the back of the net.”
Buuried at the bottom of the Eastern Conference standings with a 17-23-5 record, Buffalo starts a four-game road trip Monday in Seattle.
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Jonah Bronstein joined the WIVB squad in 2022 as a digital sports reporter. The Buffalonian has covered the Bills, Sabres, Bandits, Bisons, colleges, high schools and other notable sporting events in Western New York since 2005, for publications including The Associated Press, The Buffalo News, and Niagara Gazette. Read more of his work here.