Sabres 4, Penguins 1
PITTSBURGH - Minus their captain and the NHL's leading scorer, the Pittsburgh Penguins' brush with history came to an end Tuesday night.
Kevin Porter scored his first two goals of the season to lead the Buffalo Sabres to a 4-1 victory over the Penguins on Tuesday night at Consol Energy Center, ending Pittsburgh's winning streak at 15, two short of the NHL record.
The Penguins, who set the record in 1993, were playing their first game without Sidney Crosby, who has 56 goals in 36 games. He suffered a broken jaw and lost teeth Saturday in a victory over the New York Islanders when he struck in the mouth by a deflected shot by Penguins defensemen Brooks Orpik.
Crosby was released from the hospital Monday and the Penguins don't have a timetable for when he can resume physical activity. It seems certain that Crosby won't be able to see game action for at least a month.
The Sabres snapped their four-game winning streak behind Porter, an improbable hero who recorded just the second multi-goal game of his five-year career. Porter also had two goals for Colorado on Nov. 6, 2010 against Dallas.
Steve Ott and Cody Hodgson added goals for Buffalo and Jason Pominville had two assists.
Veteran goaltender Ryan Miller made 19 saves in what could possibly be his last game for the Sabres. There has been speculation that he could possibly be traded for the NHL trade deadline at 3 p.m. Wednesday.
The Sabres ended the Penguins' string of three straight shutouts and team-record streak of 218:48 without allowing a goal when Porter broke a scoreless tie on a shorthanded odd man rush at 10:24.
Porter put a wrist shot past Tomas Vokoun, who had posted shutouts in his previous two starts in place on injured Marc-Andre Fleury (sore neck). Vokoun had gone 173:06 without being scored upon
Iginla then tied it for the Penguins when he scored on a wrist shot from just in front of the crease at 13:27. It was his 10th goal of the season.
Buffalo went back ahead with 1:50 left in the first when Ott scored his sixth goal on a slapshot ff a drop shot from Pominville.
The Sabres increased their lead to 4-1 in the early stages of the second period. Hodgson scored on a wraparound at 2:21 and Porter converted a wrist shot at 3:38 to chase Vokoun from the game.
Vokoun made saves on nine of the 13 shots on goal he face. Fleury relieved and shut out the Sabres over the final 36:22, making 15 saves.
NOTES: Pominville has a modified no-trade clause in his contract in which he can submit eight teams to which he cannot be traded and confirmed Tuesday that he has submitted that list to general manager Darcy Regier in advance of the deadline. In rebuilding mode, the Sabres dealt defenseman Jordan Leopold to St. Louis last Saturday and defenseman Robyn Regehr to Los Angeles on Monday. ... Buffalo left wing Thomas Vanek sat out his fourth straight game and left wing Ville Leino missed his second game in a row as both have upper body injuries. Left wing John Scott was also scratched by the Sabres ...Miller played in his 492nd career game, breaking the Sabres' franchise record for goalies that was held by Dominik Hasek. ... Orpik set the Penguins' franchise for games played by a defenseman with 622, breaking a tie with Ron Stackhouse. ... Pittsburgh defensemen Kris Letang, on injured reserved with a broken toe, has started skating but there is no timetable for his return ... Scratched with Crosby for the Penguins were center Joe Vitale and defenseman Robert Bortuzzo.