Penguins surrender late lead again as losing streak reaches 6

Buffalo Sabres coach Don Granato knew what kind of disposition the struggling Pittsburgh Penguins carried along with their luggage as they rolled into the Nickel City on Wednesday.

“Angry, absolutely,” Granato said to media in Buffalo after a morning skate at KeyBank Arena. “There’s never an easy game when you play them. Their reputation precedes themselves in a very powerful way.”

That reputation had been sullied as of late thanks to a season-worst five-game losing streak. And, as they wore jerseys with an old logo the franchise donned during its most recent bankruptcy, the Penguins continued to suffer from a poverty of success as they fell to the Sabres, 6-3, extending their losing skid to six games, their worst such streak since February of 2020.

“We’ve got to find a way to get some swagger back in our game,” coach Mike Sullivan told reporters after the game in Buffalo. “When you go through struggles like this, we’re all human beings. Everybody cares. Everybody wants to be part of the soltuion. We’ve got to go back to work, make sure we reset our mindset and figure out what we can take from this one. This one stings without a doubt, but we’re going to have to figure out what we can take from it and become a better team.”

Less than 24 hours after they surrendered a three-goal lead in a 6-5 overtime home loss to the Boston Bruins, the Penguins once again fell despite having a multi-goal lead in the third period. The Sabres were able to shake off a two-goal deficit to claim victory.

“It’s disappointing,” captain Sidney Crosby told reporters in Buffalo. “We had the lead a couple times the last couple nights and we just haven’t found a way to finish the game off.

“You know teams are going to push when they’re down. We just haven’t done a good enough job of either getting the next one to build on a lead or keeping them off the board and giving them momentum. It’s been different things, but we’ve still got to find a way.”

The Penguins earned the game’s first lead 6:28 into regulation.

Stealing a puck from Sabres forward Zemgus Girgensons, Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin surged out of his own zone and created a two-on-one offensive rush with linemate Jason Zucker against Sabres defenseman Jacob Bryson. As Bryson opted to pressure Malkin above the Sabres’ left circle, Malkin dealt a pass to the right circle, where Zucker swiped a one-timer that toasted goaltender Eric Comrie’s glove on the near side for his second goal of the season. Malkin had the only assist.

Penguins forward Josh Archibald scored his second goal in as many days to give his team a two-goal advantage 5:50 into the second period.

Chasing a puck dumped in on his own end boards, Penguins defenseman P.O Joseph rimmed it around the right corner to the right half wall. With Sabres defenseman Casey Fitzgerald pinching in to pressure, Penguins forward Brock McGinn deftly backhand tapped it to linemate Ryan Poehling above the right circle, allowing him to create a two-on-one rush with Archibald against Sabres defenseman Kale Clague. Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Poehling drew in Clague and slipped a pass to the right of the crease, where Archibald lifted a forehand shot past the glove of a sprawling Comrie for his third goal of the season. Poehling and McGinn netted assists.

The Sabres got on the scoreboard late in the second period at the 18:51 mark thanks to forward J.J. Peterka’s third goal. Gloving a rebound and placing it on the ice above the right circle of the offensive zone, Sabres forward Owen Power backpedaled a bit to the blue line and then fed a pass to the near wall for Peterka. Surveying for a shooting lane, Peterka lifted a wrister from above the right circle that found an avenue through a forest of arms and sticks then beat screened goaltender Casey DeSmith’s glove on the near side. Power and defenseman Rasmus Asplund earned assists.

Penguins forward Jake Guentzel gave his team a two-goal lead only eight seconds into the third period thanks to a breakaway power-play score. Off the opening faceoff, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang controlled the puck in his own slot, allowed things to develop for a moment and fired a stretch pass to the far blue line, springing Guentzel. Attacking the cage, Guentzel toasted Comrie’s blocker with a wrister for his fifth goal. Letang and Malkin claimed assists.

The Sabres pulled back within one score at 3:21 of the third period thanks to a power-play score by forward Tage Thompson, his seventh overall goal of the season. Taking a pass at center point of the offensive zone, Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin moved it to the left circle, where Thompson dropped the hammer on a one-timer from the faceoff dot that blew past DeSmith’s blocker on the near side. Assists went to Dahlin and forward Jeff Skinner.

Things were tied 3-3 only 3:09 later thanks to Sabres forward Victor Olofsson’s seventh goal. Malkin tried to clear a loose puck from his own right corner, but Olofsson intercepted the puck in the right circle and slid a pass to Power near the left point. Faking a slapper, Power dished a clever pass back to Olofsson in the right circle. With no one in a Penguins jersey paying any attention to Olofsson, the winger boomed a one-timer into a mostly vacant cage. The lone assist went to Power.

After that ugly display, Sullivan called a time-out to refocus his squad. But that tactic did little to stymie the Sabres as they took their first lead at 10:34 of the third period.

Following an offensive zone turnover by Guentzel on the right wall, Thompson claimed possession in front of his own bench and generated a two-on-one rush with Sabres forward Alex Tuch against Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry. As Petry applied pressure, Thompson snapped a pass to the top of the crease, where Tuch tapped a forehand shot past DeSmith’s glove for his seventh goal. Thompson and Skinner had assists.

DeSmith was pulled for an extra attacker but that maneuver led to Sabres forward Kyle Okposo scoring his first goal of the season on the empty net at 18:24 of the third. Assists went to Girgensons and Dahlin.

Olofsson capped the scoring with another empty net goal at 19:53. Bryson had the only assist.

On the ensuing faceoff, things got heated as Archibald mixed it up with Sabres forwards Dylan Cozens and Casey Mittelstadt. As officials tried to diffuse things on the ice, a fan behind the Penguins’ bench agitated Sullivan by slamming the glass into Sullivan’s back.

DeSmith made 27 saves on 31 shots as his record tumbled to 0-3-1.

Notes:

• Letang returned to the game after missing one game due to an undisclosed illness.

• Penguins forward Jeff Carter was scratched for the second consecutive game due to an undisclosed injury.

• Penguins rookie forward Sam Poulin and veteran defenseman Chad Ruhwedel were healthy scratches.

• The Penguins’ penalty kill continued to struggle as the Sabres’ power play was 1 for 4. So far this season, the Penguins have allowed an opposing power-play goal in nine of their 11 games this season.

• The Penguins’ most recent six-game losing streak happened between Feb. 20-29 in 2020. Midway through that slump, they dealt for forwards Patrick Marleau, Evan Rodrigues and Conor Sheary at the trade deadline. And roughly a week and a half later, the NHL (as well as the world as a whole) shut down due to the pandemic.

• The Penguins’ last losing streak of more than six games was a seven-game skid during Crosby’s rookie season of 2005-06. Oddly enough, Sullivan was behind the bench of the Boston Bruins for the last game of that streak, a 3-1 win at the Mellon Arena, Feb. 8, 2006.

• DeSmith took a tripping penalty 2:28 into the third period against Sabres forward Jack Quinn. That infraction allowed the Penguins to become the first team in the NHL to boast of having two goaltenders with penalties on their rap sheets this season. Starter Tristan Jarry was called for holding the stick of forward Evander Kane during a 6-3 road loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 24.

• Malkin (1,158 points) surpassed forward Daniel Alfredsson (1,157) for 55th place on the NHL’s career scoring list.

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