The Pittsburgh Penguins scored four goals Wednesday, and for them lately that was a lot. Add in strong play from goaltender Tristan Jarry in his return from an injury, and the Penguins did enough to beat the Buffalo Sabres 4-2 in the team’s annual Thanksgiving Eve game at PPG Paints Arena.
Matt Dumba, Bryan Rust, Kevin Hayes and Connor Dewar scored, Ryan Shea had two assists, and Jarry made 29 saves for the Penguins, who had lost two in a row (0-1-1) and were 2-5-2 in their previous nine.
“He was outstanding,” Penguins coach Dan Muse said of Jarry.
The Penguins (11-6-5) had scored two or fewer goals in five of their previous six games.
Buffalo (9-10-4), conversely, had won two straight and four of five, and had 13 goals over the previous two games.
Tristan Broz made his NHL debut for the Penguins after being recalled from the American Hockey League. He centered the third line, between veteran Tommy Novak and fellow rookie Ville Koivunen, and finished with two shots.
The Penguins showed some signs of getting healthy, as Jarry returned and started after missing seven games, Koivunen returned after missing three games, and Rust played after missing a couple practices because of an illness.
On the flip side, rookie forward Ben Kindel was scratched for developmental plan reasons, with Muse pointing out that the Penguins are entering a busy stretch.
The first period lacked much in the way of high-event plays — including a Penguins power play with no shots — but Dumba scored his first goal in a Pittsburgh jersey at 17:09 for a 1-0 lead. He got the puck near center ice, entered the Buffalo zone and snapped home a shot from the top of the right circle past Ukko-Pekka-Luukkonen’s glove for an unassisted marker. It was just the Penguins’ third shot, and that was their total going into the first intermission.
Things didn’t get much more riveting in the scoreless second period. The Penguins spent what seemed like an overwhelming amount of time in the Sabres end, but a lot of perimeter passing and Luukkonen helped keep it 1-0.
Buffalo finally got a little momentum late in the second, but Jarry was strong, and the Sabres took a 12-11 shots edge into the second intermission.
The Sabres tied it 1-1 when former Penguin Jason Zucker, in a crowd in front of the net, tipped in a shot by Jack Quinn from the inner edge of the right circle at 7:20 of the third, but the Penguins responded quickly.
Rust, off of his own rebound, scored from the right circle 29 seconds later to restore the Penguins lead, 2-1.
“That was a massive turning point in the game,” Muse said of Rust’s goal.
At 12:34 of the third, Hayes drove to the net and converted a slick pass from Erik Karlsson to extend the Penguins’ lead to 3-1. It was Hayes’ first goal of the season after he missed most of training camp and the first month of the season because of an injury.
Buffalo tightened it to 3-2 at 15:40 of the third on Quinn’s goal. From the slot, he took a feed from behind the net by Zucker and scored on a lofted shot.
Dewar put it away with an empty-netter.
Tags: Bryan Rust Buffalo Sabres Connor Dewar kevin hayes Matt Dumba Pittsburgh Penguins Shelly Anderson Tristan Jarry
Categorized: Pittsburgh Penguins