PITTSBURGH – Alex Lyon made 11 saves in his third preseason start and Jiri Kulich scored two goals but the Buffalo Sabres dropped a 5-4 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday at PPG Paints Arena.
The Penguins tied the game at 4-4 in the third period on a pair of power-play goals, and Sidney Crosby’s goal nine seconds into the 3-on-3 overtime session ended the game.
Lyon played in two periods in his third start of the preseason, before Alexandar Georgiev entered the game in the third period.
The Sabres played with a shuffled defense in their final preseason game, due to injuries and illnesses that hit the defensemen, and Sabres captain Rasmus Dahlin did not play Friday.
How it happened
First period: The Sabres put five shots on Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry on an early four-minute power play after Evgeni Malkin was called for high-sticking at 1:15, and Jack Quinn’s shot appeared to beat Jarry, out of position with less than 10 seconds left in the power play, but the Penguins quickly cleared the puck out of the front of the crease and killed off the double-minor.
The Penguins took a 1-0 lead nine minutes in, on Philip Tomasino’s goal. Tomasino collided with Sabres goalie Alex Lyon in the crease as the puck crossed the goal line, but officials ruled it was a goal and not goalie interference, that Bowen Byram forced Tomasino into the net and into Lyon as he shot the puck.
Second period: The Sabres quickly asserted themselves in the Penguins’ defensive end of the ice, and after Beck Malenstyn and Justin Danforth put point-blank shots on goalie Tristan Jarry (16 saves), Tage Thompson tied the game at 1-1 when he flipped a feed from Josh Norris from the wall past Jarry at 3:53. Less than four minutes later, Jiri Kulich gave the Sabres their first lead when he redirected Alex Tuch’s pass past Jarry, and with Penguins star Sidney Crosby penalized for slashing, Jason Zucker opened the Sabres’ lead to 3-1 midway through the third.
Harrison Brunicke scored on the Penguins’ first shot on goal in the second, with 6:07 left, to cut the lead to one, but Kulich scored his second goal with 3:23 left, driving the net to follow Tuch’s shot from the left circle and beat Sergei Murashov, giving the Sabres a 4-2 lead.
Third period: The Penguins put the pressure on Georgiev, with six shots on goal in the first six minutes, and Rickard Rakell’s power-play goal at 6:45 cut the lead to one. Then, with Thompson penalized for holding the stick with less than eight minutes left, Crosby tied the game at 4-4 on a wraparound shot that caught Georgiev well out of position.
What’s next
The Sabres open the regular season at 7 p.m. Thursday against the New York Rangers at KeyBank Center.
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter
Sent weekly directly to your inbox!
* I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy.
Rachel Lenzi
News sports reporter
Get email notifications on {{subject}} daily!
Your notification has been saved.
There was a problem saving your notification.
{{description}}
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Followed notifications
Please log in to use this feature
Log In
Don’t have an account? Sign Up Today