The Penguins’ hopes of rebounding from two straight lopsided losses Tuesday night — and perhaps taking some attention away from the rumored sale of the team — were ultimately squashed by a guy named Dustin Tokarski.
But despite not being able to beat the 32-year-old journeyman goalie, Pittsburgh’s players left PPG Paints Arena perhaps feeling a bit better than they did going into the game.
In a blitz of a third period, the Penguins outshot Buffalo 20-3, and nearly rallied back from down 2-0. Tokarski, however, stopped 19 of those 20 attempts, and Buffalo survived with a 2-1 win.
“We’d like to end up on the right side of the result,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “Points are important. We’re well aware of that. I thought the team played really hard tonight. I thought we controlled a lot of the play. We didn’t get a whole lot of puck luck.”
The Penguins lost the previous two games, 6-1 to Washington on Sunday, and 6-3 to Ottawa Saturday.
Now with losses in eight of its last ten games, Pittsburgh continues to plummet down the standings in a Metropolitan division that might be the NHL’s deepest.
“We have to stay positive and believe in our game,” forward Jeff Carter said. “It’s the NHL. You’re not going to cruise through a season, I don’t care what team you’re on. We’re finding our way right now.
The Penguins, with a 5-6-4 record, finally appear to be getting over widespread COVID-19 issues that kept captain Sidney Crosby off the ice, Sullivan off the bench, and numerous other players away from the team for 10-day increments.
And even though the team is still without star center Evgeni Malkin, the time to buck this downward spiral is on a rapid approach.
“None of the guys in the room are saying that it’s only November,” forward Jason Zucker said. “There’s no one guy that thinks that. We’re a team that wants to win. We’re a team that takes these games in October, November and December as serious as March, February and down the line. We want to win these games as bad as any.
“This isn’t acceptable, but I think tonight is a step in the right direction.”
Jake Guentzel scored Pittsburgh’s only goal, which was set up by Crosby, who played in just his third game this season.
“I thought Sid had a much better game tonight," Sullivan said of Crosby, who missed the start of the year after recovering from offseason wrist surgery. "His stamina was a lot better. You could see that his conditioning was far better today than it was in the Washington game.
“We’re putting him in a situation where he’s got to get used to a game environment under the most intense circumstances in the regular season. There’s a little bit of a process that takes place, no matter how good you are.”
The Penguins outshot the Sabres 46-19. Pittsburgh outhit Buffalo by six and won six more face-offs. But the Penguins took five penalties, including three in the final period.
Those hiccups, along with Tokarski's stellar play in net, derailed what could have been a much happier night.
“We just have to stick with it,” Carter said. “We can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We could use excuses, but it’s going to get you nowhere. You just have to take a look in the mirror and get back to work here.”