The Buffalo Sabres made an unanticipated goalie change at the start of the second period, but couldn’t come up with the proper reinforcement for Alexandar Georgiev in a 5-3 loss to Pittsburgh in a preseason game Wednesday at KeyBank Center.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 11 saves in his first preseason start for the Buffalo Sabres, but left the game after the first period, as he re-aggravated the lower-body injury that kept him out of the first week of training camp.
Josh Norris scored two goals for the Sabres, who faced a Penguins lineup primarily made up of NHL hopefuls and a handful of NHL players, including left wing Danton Heinen, right wings Noel Acciari, Philip Tomasino and Robby Fabbri, a 10-year NHL veteran who is in the Penguins training camp on a player tryout agreement.
How it happened
First period: Tristan Broz gave Pittsburgh a 1-0 lead on a power-play goal that trickled past Luukkonen (11 saves) on a shot from in front of the crease with 4:16 left, but Norris tied the game 10 seconds later on a spectacular goal, driving the net and regaining his footing as he was tripped by defenseman Ryan Shea, then beating Penguins goalie Arturs Silovs on a backhand shot.
Second period: The Penguins needed less than six minutes to score on Georgiev, who replaced Luukkonen at the start of the second, as Matt Dumba gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead on a one-timer from the left circle. Jason Zucker was unable to re-direct Rasmus Dahlin’s shot from the left circle past Silovs with about six minutes left.
With Ryan Graves penalized for high sticking with 4:36 left in the second, Zucker missed a second attempt in front of the net with 3:50 left in the second as his one-timer went wide on Silovs’ glove side. Then, Silovs stopped Tage Thompson’s point-blank shot from the bottom of the left circle 33 seconds later, which helped the Penguins kill off the penalty. Then, Avery Hayes gave the Penguins a 3-1 lead with less than six seconds left.
Third period: Norris’ second goal, on a feed from behind the net from Thompson, cut the lead to 3-2 at 4:29 of the third, but the Sabres played the third with only five defensemen, as Michael Kesselring wasn’t on the bench to start the period. The Penguins regained a two-goal lead midway through the third on Ville Koivunen’s goal, but Dahlin’s power-play goal at 11:42 cut the lead to 4-3.
Josh Doan just missed a chance to tie the game seconds after the goal, as the Sabres had two more minutes of power-play time on a four-minute double-minor for high sticking to Blake Lizotte, who clipped Sabres defenseman Radim Mrtka in the face. Filip Hallander’s empty-net goal with 2:03 left sealed the win for Pittsburgh.
What’s next
The Sabres play their final preseason game at 7 p.m. Friday at Pittsburgh and have to finalize their 23-man roster by 5 p.m. Monday. The Sabres open the regular season at 7 p.m. Oct. 9 against the New York Rangers.
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Rachel Lenzi
News sports reporter
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