Penguins need sweep of woeful Sabres after yielding points to Devils last week
As the 2021 Penguins know by this point, you can’t take goals out of your own net. Just ask goalie Tristan Jarry following that overtime wrap-around score by the New Jersey Devils Sunday afternoon, courtesy of Jesper Bratt.
Jesper Bratt’s beautiful OT winner #NJDevils
: @NJDevils pic.twitter.com/zSKfFVodeU
— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) March 21, 2021
Similarly, you can’t go back and get points you should’ve had. Like the three points the Penguins left on the table over the course of three games against the scuffling Devils last week.
Mike Sullivan’s team went 1-1-1 over that stretch, getting only three of a possible six points against a Devils squad that only had nine wins in their first 26 contests before the trio of games was played.
I was hoping the Penguins could get at least four points out of the series if not five. That’s despite the obvious injury concerns the Penguins have. Evgeni Malkin, Branden Tanev, Jason Zucker and Teddy Blueger have all missed time due to injury of late. And in the cases of Tanev and Malkin, they may remain out for a while.
That said, the goal-scoring suffered, particularly against the defensive-minded Devils. Sidney Crosby and company only scored six goals in the three games against New Jersey.
“We generated some good chances,” Crosby said Sunday. “We had some pretty good looks. The habits and everything we work on throughout the year, they’ve always got to be there. But I think it just comes down to execution and finishing. The good thing is the looks are there, we’ve just got to bury them.”
Barring a revelation that the coronavirus vaccine will also allow us to go back in time, there’s nothing the Penguins can do about those results now. They can, however, make the most out of a similar opportunity Wednesday and Thursday nights when they square off against the Buffalo Sabres.
Buffalo is even worse than New Jersey. Much worse, in fact. The Sabres have an NHL-low 16 points. They have an NHL-high 14-game losing streak after Monday’s 5-3 defeat at the hands of the New York Rangers. It was the first time in the last seven games they managed at least three goals, losing those contests by a combined score of 26-8.
The Penguins were the victorious opponent in two of those games, winning 5-2 on March 11 and 3-0 on March 13.
Not to mention, Buffalo has only managed to scrape together four points since Feb. 22. Since Pittsburgh last played the Sabres, it’s gone from bad to worse. They fired coach Ralph Krueger. They traded goalie Jonas Johansson. Jack Eichel still hasn’t returned to play thanks to a neck injury. And center Eric Staal is at the forefront of many trade rumors.
Are they ripe for the picking for four points by the Penguins for the second time in two weeks? Or are they simply “due” to finally get a win?
Brian Metzer of the Penguins Radio Network joins me to have that conversation. We also talk about navigating the thinning Penguins depth chart, the state of the East Division, rooting for rivals and goal celebration songs.
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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