Penguins beat Sabres 5-2 with four power play goals (26-Oct-2002)
Pittsburgh rebounds nicely from the previous night's loss to Detroit by beating Buffalo 5-2 at Mellon Arena. The Penguins score four power play goals.
Lines: Morozov-Lemieux-Kovalev, Vujtek-Hrdina-Daigle, LaCouture-Primeau-Nieminen and McKenna-Manderville-Donovan.
Defensive pairings: Tarnstrom-Moran, Bergevin-Rozsival and Laukkanen-Pushor.
Goaltender: Johan Hedberg
Buffalo got the game's first goal shorthanded from Adam Mair at 8:24. Mair had a partial breakaway from the right faceoff dot. His initial shot was stopped by Johan Hedberg but he got his own rebound in the crease and banged it home.
Adam Mair (Shorthanded), Assist: Alexei Zhitnik, 8:24
Wayne Primeau tied it 15 seconds later with a power play goal. Primeau deflected a Janne Laukkanen left point shot by Buffalo goaltender, Martin Biron.
Wayne Primeau (Power Play), Assists: Janne Laukkanen, Ville Nieminen, 8:39
Alexandre Daigle scored his first goal as a Penguin on the power play to give the Pens a 2-1 lead. Dick Tarnstrom took a shot from the left point which Daigle tipped by Biron from out front.
Alexandre Daigle (Power Play), Assists: Dick Tarnstrom, Alexei Kovalev, 16:23
Shots after one period were 10-7 in favor of Buffalo.
The Penguins got their third power play goal of the game and eventual game-winner at 5:30 from Aleksey Morozov. Mario Lemieux passed the puck behind the net to Morozov who skated out and lifted a backhander high far-side home from the left-side of the goal.
Aleksey Morozov (Power Play), Assists: Mario Lemieux, Jan Hrdina, 5:30
Michal Rozsival made it 4-1 in favor of Pittsburgh with the Pens' fourth power play goal of the game at 12:08. Rozsival took a shot from the right point which went through a crowd out front and beat Biron high short-side.
Michal Rozsival (Power Play), Assists: Alexandre Daigle, Vladimir Vujtek
, 12:08
Jochen Hecht scored a power play goal for Buffalo to cut the lead to two. Hedberg stopped a Chris Gratton shot but the rebound sat in the crease where Hecht easily knocked it in.
Jochen Hecht (Power Play), Assists: Chris Gratton, Miroslav Satan, 13:04
Shots after two were 22-16 in favor of Buffalo.
The lone goal of the third period was scored by Alexei Kovalev 43 seconds in. After Mario Lemieux got the puck at center ice, he passed to Kovalev who skated in and made a backhand-to-forehand move before shooting it by Biron.
Alexei Kovalev, Assist: Mario Lemieux, 0:43
Three Stars of the Game:
Alexei Kovalev (1g, 1a)
Alexandre Daigle (1g, 1a)
Mario Lemieux (2a)
Shots on goal: Pittsburgh - 23, Buffalo - 31.
Power plays: Pittsburgh 4 of 6, Buffalo 1 of 6.
Goalies: Buffalo, Martin Biron (23 shots, 18 saves).
Pittsburgh, Johan Hedberg (31 shots, 29 saves).
Attendance: 16,188 at Mellon Arena.
Scratches: Andrew Ference (IR - hernia), Martin Straka (IR - back), Josef Melichar (IR -shoulder), Randy Robitaille (broken foot) and Hans Jonsson.
