Sabres drop another tight road game in Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH – Jack Quinn nearly pulled off a second game-tying play, but a series of late, highlight-reel saves from Pittsburgh Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry prevented the Buffalo Sabres from forcing overtime in their 4-2 loss at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday.

Quinn – who already had a goal and an assist in the game – shoveled a pass across the Pittsburgh net to Jason Zucker as the Sabres pushed for the tying goal with an extra attacker, trailing 3-2 with just over a minute to go.

Zucker’s attempt was stuffed by Jarry’s pad. Seconds later, a Quinn feed to Alex Tuch in front was also stopped by the Pittsburgh goaltender. The Penguins went the other way off of that play to score an empty-net goal and secure the win.

“I thought Jarry made a couple of tremendous saves, or else we tie the game,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said.

The result was yet another tight road loss for the Sabres, who fell to 1-6-2 away from KeyBank Center this season. They have either been tied or within one goal in the third period of each of those losses.

Buffalo trailed 1-0 entering the final period on Wednesday, the product of a quiet start on both sides. The two teams combined for just seven shots during the first period, with Pittsburgh capitalizing on a neutral-zone turnover to take the lead. Matt Dumba’s shot from the right circle glided off the outstretched stick of defenseman Bowen Byram.

“You read it, it’s going to the blocker side, and the D-man makes the right play to get a stick on the puck and it goes to the other corner,” said Sabres goalie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, who made his third straight start and stopped 15 of 18 shots. “It’s unlucky, but sometimes the bounces go your way and sometimes they don’t.”

The Sabres finally started to generate offensive momentum midway through the second period with a series of long shifts in the Pittsburgh end. That spilled into the third period, which saw Jarry stop multiple chances before Zucker finally tipped a shot from Quinn for the tying goal with 12:40 remaining.

The tie was short-lived. Bryan Rust scored the go-ahead goal just 31 seconds later, the product of a defensive-zone turnover by the Sabres and a subsequent scramble around the net in which Luukkonen lost his stick. Rust scored five-hole on a shot from the right faceoff circle.

“It’s a fast game and those situations happen fast,” Luukkonen said. “I think if I had a stick that wouldn’t have gone in.”

Pittsburgh extended the lead to 3-1 on a backdoor goal from Kevin Hayes with 7:26 remaining.

“It’s too bad,” Quinn said. “It’s kind of how the game goes. But I feel like we were building a lot of momentum, so tough to see one go in there.”

Still, the Sabres kept the foot on the pedal with the line of Zucker, Ryan McLeod and Quinn nearly completing another comeback. Buffalo led 14-2 in scoring chances with that trio on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick.

Zucker delivered a feed from behind the net to set up Quinn’s goal from the slot with 4:18 remaining. It was Quinn’s third goal and fifth point in the last three games.

They would have scored again late, had it not been for Jarry.

“It’s been going well,” Quinn said. “Nice to get on the board and help the team. I feel like with Zucks and Clouder, we’re creating a lot, so it’s been good.”

Here’s more from the loss.

A quiet night on special teams

The matchup pitted Buffalo’s top-ranked penalty kill against Pittsburgh’s top-ranked power play – but it only came to fruition once.

The Penguins drew their lone power play during the first period, when Sidney Crosby lost his edge skating into the corner. Crosby was untouched, but Conor Timmins was called for tripping on the play. The Sabres killed the ensuing penalty.

Buffalo, meanwhile, did not have a power play for the first time this season.

A top-line change

With the Sabres in search of offense, Ruff swapped Zach Benson to the top line alongside Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch midway through the game. Josh Doan joined a line with Tyson Kozak and Noah Ostlund.

“It was a game where I thought that McLeod line dominated for the most part,” Ruff said. “We were getting some decent shifts out of the Ostlund line, but the top line wasn’t generating much, so just tried to catch a little fire there somewhere.”

Up next

The Sabres return home on Black Friday to host the New Jersey Devils at 4 p.m. Tickets are available here.

Coverage on MSG begins at 3:30 p.m.