PITTSBURGH – Josh Norris was asked about the energy in the Buffalo Sabres' dressing room on Thursday, after they defeated the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-1 for their fifth straight win.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Norris said. “The most fun I’ve ever had playing hockey. We get to listen to music on the plane after, always makes it a little bit better going home after a win.”
The Sabres have had plenty of fun plane rides lately. Their win in Pittsburgh marked their 10th straight road game with a point (9-0-1), matching a franchise record previously accomplished in 1983-84 and 2006-07.
Buffalo also has three winning streaks of five games or more this season. The last time that happened? Twenty years ago, during the magical 2005-06 run that was celebrated in front of a packed house at KeyBank Center back in January.
“It’s hard to describe, really,” Norris continued. “It’s such a fun group and authentic and just guys being themselves, really. You can’t really ask for much more. It’s been a lot of fun.”
And the win represented another benchmark for the Sabres, now tied for first place in the Atlantic Division in the points column. The Lightning, who lost in Winnipeg on Thursday, have two games in hand (along with two head-to-head games remaining in Buffalo).
While the results have been the same lately, Thursday’s win was unlike any that had come before it. Norris and Owen Power each had a goal and an assist while Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 27 saves, but it was the abundance of special teams that made it unique.
The two teams traded shorthanded goals during the first period – a breakaway for Ryan McLeod, followed by a drive to the net for Bryan Rust – which seemed like a night’s worth of special teams storylines in itself.
That was only the appetizer.
A net-front battle between Rasmus Dahlin and Evgeni Malkin during the opening minute of the second period unfurled into a sequence of events that resulted in a combined 21 penalty minutes and two Sabres goals scored in a span of 2:08 – including an (officially) shorthanded goal for Alex Tuch that was scored (unofficially) at 5-on-5.
Let us (do our best to) explain:
- Let’s start with the aforementioned interaction between Dahlin and Malkin. Dahlin shoved Malkin away from the Buffalo net after the whistle, to which Malkin responded with a slash to the side of Dahlin’s throat. Dahlin was assessed two minutes for his role in the interaction while Malkin was given two for roughing, a game misconduct, and a five-minute slashing major. All told, the Sabres came away with five minutes of power-play time.
- With 1:28 remaining on the major, Josh Norris buried a rebound to put the Sabres ahead, 2-1. The Penguins challenged unsuccessfully for goaltender interference after a lengthy video review ruled that Josh Doan was pushed into goalie Arturs Silovs. A failed challenge is a minor penalty, which meant the Sabres were now up 5-on-3 for 1:28.
- The Penguins did well to kill the 5-on-3 – and, with 13 seconds left on the two-man advantage, McLeod was called for slashing in the offensive zone. That meant 13 seconds at 4-on-3 in favor of the Sabres, followed by 32 seconds at 4-on-4, followed by an abbreviated Penguins power play. Are you still following?
- With 15 seconds left at 4-on-4, the Penguins were called for a delayed penalty in the neutral zone. The Sabres brought on an extra attacker and, as they worked the puck around the offensive zone, Yegor Chinakov (serving the penalty for the failed challenge) exited the penalty box. With the referee’s arm still in the air and five skaters on for each team, Alex Tuch scored a deflection to make the score 3-1. And there you have it: a 5-on-5, shorthanded goal.
Make sense?
“That’s crazy,” McLeod said, laughing and unaware of the peculiar nature of Tuch’s goal. “Good for him.”
Power tacked on a fourth goal later in the period to increase the lead to 4-1, and the Sabres held on from there until Mattias Samuelsson added an empty-net goal late.
After a fun ride home, the Sabres get to keep rolling at KeyBank Center. They play their next five games in their own building, where they’ve had six straight sellouts.
“We’re a confident group right now, just taking it one day at a time, enjoying the ride,” McLeod said. “Not trying to get too high or too low, but definitely enjoying it.”
Here’s more from a wild win in Pittsburgh.
