5 takeaways | Sabres' youth shows in loss to Penguins

Don Granato appreciated the confidence he saw in his young team, but felt it was mischanneled.
The Sabres twice erased one-goal deficits during the first 30 minutes of their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, knotting the score at 3-3. The up-and-down tempo eventually tilted toward the veteran Penguins' favor in what ended as an 8-4 loss.
"I thought we saw our youth and some inexperience because we thought we would be OK to be in a track meet," Granato said. "I like our confidence and I like our thought that we can go score. But we didn't know what we should respect enough."
Drake Caggiula scored his first two goals with the Sabres, who also received goals from Tage Thompson and Jeff Skinner. Michael Houser, making his first road start in the city where he played his youth hockey, made 26 saves on 34 shots.
Jeff Carter scored a career-high four goals for the Penguins.
Here are five takeaways.

1. Sabres get out-chanced

Caggiula opened the scoring just 2:45 into the contest. The Penguins responded with two straight goals from Carter before Thompson tied the game at 2-2.
Carter completed his hat trick 4:36 into the second period, but the Sabres responded again with Caggiula's second goal of the night. The pace of scoring turned out to be unsustainable.
"They're probably not the team to be trading chances with," Caggiula said.
Dumoulin and McCann scored goals 59 seconds apart to break the 3-3 tie during the second period. Carter capitalized on a turnover to earn his fourth goal of the night during the third period, followed by a tipped goal from Crosby and an open shot from Kapanen.
Pittsburgh finished with decisive edges in shot attempts (48-27) and high-danger chances (11-3) at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"I think the guys realized it midway through the game and they couldn't get the game back," Granato said. "When you allow a team in a game and you allow that team with a bunch of great players to be confident in what they do, it's really hard to take that back."

2. A tough night for Houser

Houser had a group of friends and relatives in a suite to watch his first road start, hoping to build on the magic of his two victories over the Islanders on Monday and Tuesday. His teammates took responsibility for the number of chances the goaltender faced.
"We owe him big time," Caggiula said. "The last couple games he's been a stone wall back there for us. It's been a lot of fun playing for him and we kind of laid an egg tonight for him. He deserves better. We owe him. Especially being in his hometown, we got to be better for that."

3. Caggiula gets on the board

Caggiula scored his first goals in 10 games since joining the team last month. He beat Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry short side with a shot on a rush down the left side of the ice, setting the tone for a four-shot performance.

"I think … sometimes this year I've been too passive," he said. "It was a good opportunity for me to just let one rip. There was no other option but to shoot it, and I think that kind of just put my mind in the right mindset."

4. Murray's debut

Brett Murray became the seventh player to make his NHL debut for the Sabres this season, tallying one shot in 11:10. The 6-foot-5 forward won a battle in the corner and then crowded the Pittsburgh net during the sequence that led to Caggiula's second goal.

5. Up next

The Sabres conclude the season with another game against the Penguins on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Penguins lead the Capitals by two points for the top seed in the East Division.
"They need the points obviously, the way our division is, so there's stuff for them to play for the next game," Granato said. "We know we'll get a good game out of them, obviously, with a lot on the line. That's exactly what we need."