NHL - Penguins - Round Up March 03-05, 2017

Tampa Bay Lightning @ Penguins 2-5 - Friday, March 03, 2017

Mark Streit scored the tiebreaking goal in the third period of his Pittsburgh Penguins debut, helping them defeat the Tampa Bay Lightning 5-2 at PPG Paints Arena. Streit gave the Penguins a 3-2 lead at 2:38 after Tampa Bay forward Nikita Kucherov tied it 2-2 on a power play at 1:10 with his seventh goal in five games. Streit was traded to the Penguins by the Lightning on Wednesday, after Tampa Bay acquired the defenseman in a trade with the Philadelphia Flyers.

Justin Schultz gave Pittsburgh a 4-2 lead on a power play with 3:23 remaining, and Tom Kuhnhackl made it 5-2 on an empty-net goal with 1:00 left. The Penguins (39-16-8) avoided a third straight loss and tied the Columbus Blue Jackets for second place in the Metropolitan Division. They are seven points behind the Washington Capitals for first place. Adam Erne gave the Lightning a 1-0 lead with his first NHL goal at 6:18 of the second period. Evgeni Malkin tied it 1-1 on a power play 2:21 later. Six seconds after Victor Hedman was called for tripping, Phil Kessel sent a cross-ice pass to Malkin, who dropped to one knee and one-timed a snap shot past Peter Budaj's glove at 8:39. Kessel set up Malkin again to extend the lead to 2-1 with 3:11 remaining in the second. Malkin, who played his 700th NHL game, is second on the Penguins with 28 goals, six behind Sidney Crosby. Malkin has 11 goals in his past 15 games; he missed seven games during that stretch with a lower-body injury. The Lightning (29-26-8) are five points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Budaj, who stopped 60 of 62 shots winning two starts for the Los Angeles Kings against the Penguins this season, made 30 saves in his Lightning debut. He was acquired in a trade with Los Angeles on Feb. 26. Matt Murray made 27 saves for the Penguins and is 7-2-2 in his past 11 games.

* Malkin was tripped while carrying the puck before it slipped to Crosby, who passed to Streit during the delayed penalty. After stickhandling toward Budaj, Streit shot through his five-hole.

* With Budaj out of position, Kessel passed to Schultz, who dropped to one knee and shot toward a seemingly open left side of the net but sent it slightly too far to the right. Budaj twisted back and made a save before falling in his crease. The rebound slipped to Nick Bonino, but he shot into Budaj before the puck was frozen with 7:28 remaining in the second period.

* Jonathan Drouin drove through the neutral zone to the near wall before turning and backhanding a pass to Kucherov, who one-timed a shot past Murray's glove.

* Crosby helped keep the Lightning from taking the lead when Brayden Point went on a breakaway at 4:46 of the second period. Crosby chased down Point and stripped him of the puck before he could shoot.

* Erne played his seventh NHL game. … Penguins forward Conor Sheary played 13:38 returning from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for 13 games. … Lightning forward Steven Stamkos participated in a second consecutive morning skate but did not play. He has been out since Nov. 15 with a right knee injury.

Pens Quotes

"Just give the guys credit. They were locked in. …. They're all such great players. When they take what the game gives them and they don't force it, they see the plays that are there, and I thought that's what went on tonight. I thought we were just locked in." Mike Sullivan
"I think the thing is, obviously, we got the win. I felt comfortable [with Pittsburgh] right away. It made it a whole lot easier to play tonight." Streit said.
"When you score, you always like it. It was a good night for me. It was a good night for the team. … I've scored like 28 goals, but probably on like 20 [Kessel] has passed to me. He's a great player and I'm glad he plays with us." Malkin said.

Buffalo Sabres @ Penguins 3-4 - Sunday, March 05, 2017

After waiting nearly the entire regular season, Marc-Andre Fleury had his moment at PPG Paints Arena. Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary scored late in the third period, and Fleury made 28 saves in relief to help the Pittsburgh Penguins rally past the Buffalo Sabres 4-3. Fleury replaced Matt Murray in goal to start the second period. Murray made 18 saves on 21 shots. After Sheary shot off Zach Bogosian, Guentzel raised his stick to deflect it past Anders Nilsson to tie it 3-3 with 3:46 remaining. After review, it was ruled Guentzel kept his stick below the crossbar. Sheary gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead by shooting into an open left side of Buffalo's net with 2:56 left to complete the three-goal comeback.

Pittsburgh (40-16-8) has won its past two games after losing its previous two.
Buffalo (27-27-12, 66 points) is five points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.

Ryan O'Reilly, Brian Gionta and Jack Eichel each scored in the first period to give the Sabres a 3-0 lead. O'Reilly scored after Evander Kane intercepted a pass from Brian Dumoulin up the near wall. Kane passed to Gionta, who set up O'Reilly's wrist shot under the crossbar that gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead 6:19 into the first. After Mark Streit nearly tied it 1-1 with 7:15 remaining in the first, Gionta extended the Sabres' lead to 2-0 on a power-play goal with 5:07 left and Eichel made it 3-0 with his 16th goal of the season with 1:53 remaining. Justin Schultz cut it to 3-1 at 7:45 of the second period before he set up Evgeni Malkin for a power-play goal that made it 3-2 with 6:18 remaining in the period. Nilsson made 41 saves for Buffalo.

* Guentzel's goal wasn't disputed in the Sabres locker room following the game. Eichel said that while Guentzel's stick was high, he couldn't definitively tell if it was above the crossbar.
"If it was us that scored the goal, I'm sure we would all be saying that it is a goal," Eichel said.

* Kane went on a breakaway with a chance to give Buffalo a 4-1 lead at 8:21 of the second period. He went backhand to forehand, causing Fleury to fall forward, and attempted to wrap a shot around Fleury's right pad. Fleury slid to the right post and denied Kane with a toe save.

* Streit redirected a pass through Nilsson's five-hole in the first period, leading the crowd to cheer as if Pittsburgh had scored. During a review, it was determined Streit's shot never fully crossed the goal line before Jake McCabe scooped it away and sent the puck toward the neutral zone.

* Sidney Crosby didn't score for the Penguins, but was effective by leading Pittsburgh with nine shots. He also had two hits and one takeaway.

* Sabres defenseman Dmitry Kulikov did not play after sustaining an upper-body injury against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Saturday. Falk replaced Kulikov in the lineup. … Fleury played at PPG Paints Arena for the second time since Jan. 8. His other appearance came against the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 16.

"I think I got to try to think through this whole experience tonight and figure out what to make of it, to be honest with you." Mike Sullivan
"It's about the team, not me. It was fun. The team played a lot better in the second and the third, so that helped me out, definitely. Just the support when I came back on the ice for the beginning of second from the fans. … They're good to me." Fleury said.