BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP)—The Pittsburgh Penguins went back to basics against the Buffalo Sabres.
Aleksey Morozov scored at 3:09 of overtime to give the Penguins a 2-1 victory Friday night. Pittsburgh had a 23-22 shots edge, the first time this season they’ve outshot an opponent.
“We just tried to keep it simple and concentrate on taking short shifts,” Penguins coach Ed Olczyk said. “We found ways to get pucks to the net tonight and make things happen when it wasn’t there.”
Drake Berehowsky also scored and added an assist and Sebastien Caron made 21 saves to help the Penguins snap a four-game losing streak. The Penguins won for just the second time on the road and fourth time overall.
“It was important for us to come out and play a good game tonight,” Berehowsky said.
Daniel Briere scored for Buffalo, 0-2-1 in its last three games, and Mika Noronen stopped 21 shots.
After taking a pass in the neutral zone from Berehowsky, Morozov skated down the left side and beat Noronen with a slap shot from the top of the left circle, the forward’s fifth goal of the season.
“I saw it all the way,” Noronen said. “It was a hard shot in the right spot.”
Caron made a big save on Buffalo’s leading scorer Chris Drury on a short-handed breakaway attempt in the first period. The save set the tone for a Pittsburgh team that had been outscored by a 25-7 margin in their previous four games.
“The team needed that and I needed that,” Caron said. “We didn’t give them the lead in the first period and that’s been a bad period for us.”
Coming into the game the Penguins had been outscored 15-1 on the road in the first.
“We never gave up and played hard,” Caron said. “That’s the way we have to play to be a success.”
Briere opened the scoring midway through the second period, beating Caron with a wrist shot.
Berehowsky tied it with his first goal of the season with 8:27 remaining in the third. Berehowsky’s rising slap shot from the right point found the top left corner behind Noronen.
“It’s great for us to win a game like this,” Berehowsky said. “We made a common effort to play well in our own end.”
“I don’t think we played poorly,” said Sabres coach Lindy Ruff. “They didn’t give up a lot. We had times to put the game away and we didn’t put it away.”
Caron was making just his fourth start of the season and first since Oct. 25 against the New York Islanders. He entered the game with a NHL-worst 5.67 goals-against-average.
Caron shut out the Sabres in a 0-0 tie in Buffalo last January.
“This is a good rink for me,” Caron said.
The Penguins, 7-1-1 in their last nine visits to Buffalo, were again without Mario Lemieux, who missed his fifth straight game because of a strained muscle in his left hip. Lemieux is not expected to skate until Monday at the earliest.
Pittsburgh also played without leading scorer Rico Fata, who strained his left hamstring in the Penguins’ 6-2 loss to the New York Rangers on Wednesday night. Fata said that he expects to be out for a minimum of two weeks.
In the second period, defenseman Dan Focht broke his ring finger on his right hand after blocking a slap shot, further shortening the Penguins lineup.
“The guys did a great job tonight,” Olczyk said. “Everybody got into thegame and gave a great effort.”
Notes
Lemieux has played only one regular-season game in Buffalo since 1996-97. In his last five appearances in Buffalo, he has recorded just one assist. … Pittsburgh LW Konstantin Koltsov left the game early in the first period with blood flowing from the top of his upper lip after going face-first into the boards following a check from Buffalo D Andy Delmore. Delmore received a five-minute major for checking from behind and a game misconduct. Koltsovreturned to start the second period.
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