Sabres ride pair of short-handed goals to win over Penguins
AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ryan McLeod and Alex Tuch scored short-handed goals and the Buffalo Sabres beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 on Thursday night.
McLeod now has a league-best five short-handed goals this season. Josh Norris added a power-play goal, Owen Power scored and Mattias Samuelsson scored an empty-net goal for the Sabres, who won their fifth straight game.
Tage Thompson established a career-best, nine-game point streak with an assist. Buffalo has points in 10 straight road games, matching the longest road point streak in franchise history.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 26 shots for the Sabres, who are 11-2-1 in their last 14 games.
Bryan Rust scored a short-handed goal for the Penguins, who lost consecutive games in regulation for the first time since Jan. 10-11.
Evgeni Malkin was given a major penalty for slashing Sabres defenseman Rasmus Dahlin at 38 seconds of the second period. Malkin, who was also assessed a cross-checking minor, was ejected, which snapped a 10-game home point streak.
Arturs Silovs made 21 saves for the Penguins, who have points in 14 of their last 17 games.
After Malkin’s penalty, Norris scored on the power play at 4:10 to give the Sabres a 2-1 lead. Buffalo continued on the power play after Pittsburgh unsuccessfully challenged for goaltender interference. The Penguins are 0 for 7 on goaltender interference challenges this season.
Tuch continued a four-game point streak with a goal at 6:18 and Power gave the Sabres a 4-1 lead with 9:30 to play in the second period.
The 39-year-old Malkin has been suspended twice in his NHL career, one game for high-sticking Philadelphia’s Michael Raffl in February 2019, and four games in April 2022 for cross-checking Nashville’s Mark Borowiecki.
Pittsburgh is already without captain Sidney Crosby for a minimum of four weeks because of a lower-body injury.
UP NEXT
Sabres: Host Nashville on Saturday.
Penguins: Continue a three-game homestand Saturday against Philadelphia.