Penguins turn in second consecutive no-show in lifeless defeat to Sabres

Cameron Hoover, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Mar 27, 2025

Published in Hockey

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No amount of good vibes from Sidney Crosby’s historic heroics could save the Penguins on Thursday night.

Despite the captain potting a goal to secure his NHL-record 20th career point-per-game season, all other phases of the Penguins’ game were putrid in a 7-3 loss to the Buffalo Sabres at KeyBank Center.

After a dreadful first period during which they went down 4-0 to the Tampa Bay Lightning in their last game Tuesday, it would stand to reason coach Mike Sullivan and the Penguins sought a quicker start Thursday. That was certainly not the case.

For the 14th time this season, the Penguins allowed their opponents’ first shot to go in the net. This one only took 27 seconds. Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin flipped a puck toward the Penguins’ defensive zone, where Zach Benson controlled it at the blue line and found Tage Thompson. Thompson curled around Matt Grzelcyk and fired past Tristan Jarry.

The Penguins are two away from tying the all-time single-season record for goals allowed on the first shot. Jarry has allowed a goal on one of the first three shots he’s faced in four of his last five starts, according to Penguins historian Bob Grove.

Jarry allowed the second shot he faced to go in, too, this time a feathered redirect from Peyton Krebs after a centering pass from Connor Clifton. Two shots, two goals for the Sabres. At that point, Jarry had allowed a goal on six of the previous nine shots he faced dating back to Tuesday’s drubbing in Tampa Bay.

Crosby, as he so often has over his 20 years in Pittsburgh, briefly gave the Penguins some respite. Rickard Rakell cycled the puck below James Reimer’s crease before flipping the puck to the slot and finding the captain. Crosby controlled the puck with his skate before firing past Reimer to make it 2-1.

From there, the wheels fell off in the second period. It started just over three minutes into the frame when Buffalo’s Jiri Kulich received a drop pass from Bowen Byram and whipped a wrister past Jarry. Mattias Samuelsson snuck behind a clueless Penguins defense less than two minutes later and snuck a shot through Jarry’s short side for a 4-1 lead.

Sullivan had seen enough and pulled Jarry for the second straight contest, but things didn’t get much better with Alex Nedeljkovic between the pipes. Kulich fired another one into the net, then fourth-liner Tyson Kozak buried a rebound less than 30 seconds later. Alex Tuch then potted his 28th of the year as the final seconds ticked down on the second period, sending the Penguins back into the dressing room down 7-1 and confirming the embarrassment.

Blake Lizotte and Kevin Hayes jammed home goals in the garbage-time third period for the Penguins to make the game appear closer than it really was. As the Penguins and their fans are looking for some kind of pushback from their players through this rough stretch, at least new acquisition Connor Dewar dropped the gloves with Buffalo’s Jacob Bernard-Docker in the third after a big hit.

Crosby’s chase for point-per-game immortality invigorated the fans at a time when not much else did. Now that the milestone is confirmed, the Penguins’ free fall toward the basement of the league re-takes center stage.

Stat ‘n’ at

1 — This is the first time in his career Jarry has been pulled in back-to-back starts.

Injury updates

Evgeni Malkin missed a second straight game with an upper-body injury. … Boko Imama, who had nearly over twice as many penalty minutes (14) as time on ice (5:41) in Tuesday’s loss, joined Malkin on the injured list, also with an upper-body injury. … Because of their lack of healthy forwards, the Penguins only dressed 11 of them Thursday, with seven defensemen. … Ryan Shea returned to the lineup after missing the past seven games with injury. Grzelcyk and Vladislav Kolyachonok both played despite being banged up in the Penguins’ last game.

Up next

The Penguins return home riding a three-game losing streak. They’ll take on the Senators at 5 p.m. Sunday at PPG Paints Arena.