BUFFALO, N.Y. --Officially, the Penguins' 33 victories this season rank a middle-of-the-pack 15th in the 31-team NHL.
Unofficially, they lead the league in moral victories or, as they say, good efforts that "didn't get rewarded." Friday night's 4-3 overtime loss to the Buffalo Sabres was just the latest in this increasingly tired narrative.
"We did a lot of good things," Sidney Crosby said.
"I thought we played really well, didn't get the result," Matt Murray added.
"I thought for most of the night, we were the better team," Mike Sullivan said.
All of the above is true, and you could probably cut and paste the same quotes after a dozen games this season, but the fact is that picking up solitary points in three-point games isn't going to get the Penguins into the playoffs. As it is, the Penguins are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, trailing the eighth-place Blue Jackets, who have a game in hand on Pittsburgh.
On Friday, the Penguins outshot the Sabres by a wide margin (44-30). They out-Corsi'd the Sabres, 59-41 percent at all strengths. The one thing they didn't do was beat the Sabres. That's kind of a big one.
And it won't get any easier tonight when the Penguins take on Carey Price and the Canadiens in Montreal.
Most frustrating, for the second time in three games, the Penguins squandered a late lead in regulation only to lose in overtime. The only consolation is that they picked up yet another loser's point and, oh, this one didn't come in front of tens of thousands of inebriated Philadelphians in the rain.
Of course, Friday's game never should have gone to overtime in the first place. After Scott Wilson’s stick bloodied the nose of Marcus Pettersson at 16:25 of the second period, the Penguins scored a pair of power-play goals, including Patric Hornqvist's first since Jan. 6, ending a career-worst drought.
If that wasn't a sign from the Hockey Gods that fate was on the Penguins' side, then surely it had to be Pettersson's diving stop in the crease in the third period that, at least temporarily, prevented the tying goal.
But as they've been known to do, the Penguins turned in yet another incomplete performance as the Sabres -- another non-playoff team -- managed to tie the game with 2:32 remaining when Brandon Montour's wrist shot from the top of the point deflected off the skate of Pettersson and past Murray.
"That's just how it goes sometimes," said Murray, who made 26 saves and was, at times, brilliant.
It just seems to be going that way far too often for the Penguins. In overtime, which devolved into a comedy of errors both ways, the Penguins had the better chances but couldn't put the game to bed.
Petterson had a good look from the left circle that Linus Ullmark denied. Phil Kessel had another look from the same spot but Ullmark got a piece of it with his catching glove. Pettersson had a glorious opportunity from the slot but passed it up, missing on a feed to Kessel at the right side of the net. Kessel, who is now in the second-longest goal drought of his career at 13 games, never got a shot off.
"I should have shot that puck myself," said Pettersson, who was equal parts hero and goat. "I thought he was going to come out at me and I saw Phil back door. But he read that too well. I've got to shoot that."
Then, with 1:12 remaining, Malkin rang a shot off the post. After being on the ice for 40 seconds in the frantic, leg-burning pace of 3-on-3, Pettersson and Malkin were soon gassed. In a desperate attempt to clear the zone, Pettersson put a puck up the wall that Malkin couldn't handle. Connor Sheary did. With 48.2 left on the clock, Sheary could have skated right down Chippewa Street before firing a 30-foot wrister that beat Murray to the blocker side:
Game. Set. Match.
"I had all that space to come down the slot and shoot that," Sheary said.
Then again, should it have come as a surprise? The Penguins have now lost nine of 14 games that have gone beyond regulation this season. A season ago, the Penguins' proficiency in overtime was one of their best attributes. In 2017-18 they went 14-6. That's nine points, or what could prove to be the difference in seeing the Penguins' dozen-year playoff streak appearance come to an end.
Even with their current rash of injuries, they can still send over the boards Crosby, Malkin and Kessel. With all the time and space that 3-on-3 hockey affords, it should be a huge advantage for the Penguins' skill players. It hasn't been, for reasons unknown.
"Different times, it's different things," Sullivan was saying. "We've taken inopportune penalties in overtime. There's been a lot that's happened in overtime this year. There's been a handful where it has been there for us, we just didn't score."
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
THREE STARS
My curtain calls go to …
1. Conor Sheary
Sabres left wing
Diminutive former Penguin, had two goals and an assist for his first multi-goal game of the season since Oct. 6 vs. the Rangers.
2. Linus Ullmark
Sabres goalie
As the Penguins could attest, the 6-foot-4 goalie takes up a lot of net. Ullmark matched his season high with 41 saves.
3. Sidney Crosby
Penguins center
Two-point night for the captain, including his ninth power-play goal of the season. That matched his total from last season.
THE GOOD
If Erik Gudbranson plays the way he did Friday for the remaining 18 games this season, the Penguins will take it. In his debut, Gudbranson logged 20:12, including 1:39 shorthanded. He added two hits and one blocked shot while not looking completely lost in his own zone. Said Sullivan: "I thought he played really well."
As advertised, the big defenseman is not the most fleet of foot but he wasn't afraid to jump into the rush. In the second period, he even had this scoring chance:
Of course, the Penguins didn't bring in a 6-foot-5, 217-pounder to be the next Paul Coffey. But, for what it's worth, Gudbranson did have an outstanding 74.07 Corsi For percentage according to naturalstattrick.com. He announced his presence with authority in the third period when he crunches Montour with this big hit that sent the Sabres' biggest trade deadline acquisition head over skates:
"I thought I played pretty well," Gudbranson was telling me afterward. "It was a pretty easy transition to jump in with this group. There's a lot of skilled players that hold on and protect the puck well."
THE BAD
Yes, the Penguins have a lot of injuries, particularly on their penalty-killing units, but Sullivan was saying Friday morning that they do have players that are capable of filling in. Could have fooled me.
The Sabres scored on their first power play chance at 12:53 of the first period. Kyle Okposo threaded a pass between the skates of Jack Johnson to Sheary, who was standing alone in front after Zach Trotman failed to pick him up.
Until the Penguins get some bodies back to good health, their best penalty kill is not taking penalties. The Sabres went just 1-for-2 on Friday but that made it four straight games in which the Penguins have coughed up at least one power play goal.
THE PLAY
Jared McCann was all the talk after Tuesday night's win in Columbus, and rightfully so, but keep in mind that Nick Bjugstad was the Penguins' biggest fetch before the deadline. Bjugstad's goal was his third in 14 games with the Penguins and second at even strength. And it was a snipe:
At 4:05 of the first period, Bjugstad drew the Penguins even at 1-1 when Dom Simon and Juuso Riikola worked the puck along the boards to Bjugstad. The big center skated parallel to the goal line and, from 21 feet out, launched a shot that found daylight between the near post and Ullmark's right ear.
"Just trying to get it off. I don't know, I saw McCann in the corner and just decided to shoot," Bjugstad said. "It's don't think, just shoot. Been shooting at the same net since I was 3-years-old. Sometimes I have a tendency to overthink it. The net doesn't move. But the goalies are bigger. They're still hanging in the same spots."
THE CALL
Sullivan threw up a Hail Mary after Sheary's game-winner, challenging whether the Sabres entered the zone offsides. They weren't and the goal stood.
However, the best call of the night goes to Housley for going with Ullmark over starting goalie Carter Hutton. Housley saved his starter for Saturday night's border war in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. Ullmark, who had never faced the Penguins before in his four-year career, responded by making 41 saves to improve to 14-8-4. The Swedish goalie weathered an early storm as the Penguins led 33-16 in shots after two periods but held just a 3-2 lead.
Hutton had been 3-0-0 with two shutouts in five career games against the Penguins, including a 36-save performance in the Sabres’ win at PPG Paints Arena on Nov. 24. He has a .956 save percentage and a 1.36 goals-against average in his career vs. Pittsburgh.
THE OTHER SIDE
Sheary won a pair of Stanley Cup rings in Pittsburgh but is likely to sit out the postseason for the first time this year, his first with Buffalo.
He was traded to GM Jason Botterill's Sabres last summer, along with Matt Hunwick, for the low, low price of a conditional fourth-round pick in this year's draft. The move was made mostly to cut salary as Sheary was owed $6 million over the next two seasons. On Friday, Sheary got his revenge and he wasn't shy about sticking it to his former team:
"It was a good one for me to get," Sheary said. "Just overall, I needed to start scoring more. But it was a little more special against my old squad."
The Sabres' win snapped a two-game skid and moved them to within seven points of the Blue Jackets for the final wildcard spot.
"I just think it shows them that they can still come back again if they stay the course and stick with it," Housley said. "These guys fought right through to the end … It just shows if you keep fighting — and our determination was really solid in the third and overtime — that we can find a way to win. It just reminds them that they can still do it."
THE DATA
• Teddy Blueger's Corsi For percentage at 5v5 was 13.33. Bad as that was, Garrett Wilson checked in at 7.14.
• Matt Cullen played just 8:28, his second-fewest minutes this season.
• The Penguins now have points in 17 straight games vs. the Sabres. They are 15-0-2.
• Malkin extended his personal points streak against Buffalo to eight games.
THE INJURIES
• Kris Letang, defenseman, has an upper body injury and is day to day.
• Brian Dumoulin, defenseman, has a concussion and is day to day.
• Olli Maatta, defenseman, has a separated left shoulder and is expected to miss a month. He’s on IR.
• Bryan Rust, forward, will miss his first game with a lower body injury that Sullivan has described as “long-term.”
• Chad Ruhwedel, defenseman, will miss his first game with an upper body injury, also expected to be long-term.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan's lines/pairings for this game:
Guentzel—Crosby—Hornqvist
Aston-Reese—Malkin—Kessel
McCann—Bjugstad—Simon
Blueger—Cullen—Wilson
Johnson—Schultz
Pettersson—Gudbranson
Riikola—Trotman
• And for Housley's Sabres:
Skinner—Eichel—Reinhart
Sheary—Rodrigues—Okposo
Wilson—Mittlestadt—Thompson
Girgensons—Larsson—Pominville
McCabe—Ristolainen
Dahlin—Bogosian
Scandella—Montour
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will face the Canadiens in Montreal on Saturday night. Neither team will have a morning skate. DK picks up our coverage from the Bell Centre.
THE COVERAGE
Visit our team page for everything on the Penguins
MATT SUNDAY GALLERY
Penguins at Sabres, Buffalo, N.Y., March 1, 2019 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS
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