|
 Center Brandon Sutter scored twice as the Penguins punched their
ticket to the playoffs with a 2-0 win over the Buffalo Sabres
Saturday night. With the win over Buffalo, Pittsburgh edged out the
Boston Bruins for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern
Conference. Pittsburgh will play the New York Rangers in the first
round of the playoffs.
"It doesn't matter how you get in, you've just got to find a way to
get in there," center Sidney Crosby said. "It's good to be relieved
and obviously we're happy to be there now. We've got to raise our
level of play and now find a way to keep playing."
It was a long and arduous struggle over the season's final stretch
for Pittsburgh (43-27-12), which lost five consecutive games (0-4-1)
leading up to the regular season finale. But the Penguins controlled
their own destiny and came through with a gritty win over the
Sabres.
Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves for his NHL-best
10th shutout of the season.
"I think emotionally we weren't in there and we just had to get one
more win," Andre-Fleury said. "It took a while, you know, but
definitely it's good to get it."
The Penguins' reward is a clash with the Rangers -- the best team in
the NHL this season. The teams squared off in the Eastern Conference
Semifinals last year, with the Penguins opening up a 3-1 lead before
losing the seven-game series. New York lost in the Stanley Cup
Finals to Los Angeles.
"We know them well, they know us well, so there shouldn't be any
surprises there," Crosby said. "It should be a pretty intense,
physical series. But hopefully we can kind of ride this momentum a
bit, getting this big win and continue it into the playoffs."
Sutter opened the scoring 14:23 into the second period on a strong
backhanded shot. After receiving the puck behind the net, Sutter
curled inside and lifted a shot past Lindback to the blocker side.
It was his 20th goal of the season.
Sutter's second goal came 8:26 into the third period. Penguins right
winger Patric Hornqvist found left winger Daniel Winnick all alone
in the right circle, which drew Lindback out of the Sabres' net.
Winnick then fed Sutter to his left, and the center had an easy
tap-in to make it 2-0.
"I think we knew the way we've been playing the last couple games we
deserved a bit of a better fate and tonight we finally got it,"
Sutter said. "Seventh or eighth, it doesn't really matter. We're in
the postseason, we have a chance so we're excited about that."
[to top of second column] |
Goalie Anders Lindback made 36 saves for the Sabres (23-51-8), who
fittingly ended their season with another loss. With 54 points,
Buffalo finished with the lowest point total in the NHL.
"It's been a trying year," Sabres head coach Ted Nolan said. "On the
bright side of it, you look at Pittsburgh, I think the first time we
played them it was 6-1, it wasn't close. And this time it was
tight."
After the Sabres clinched last place -- and one of the top two picks
in the NHL Draft -- on Friday, the hometown crowd had reason to
celebrate. Other games in recent weeks have featured mixed reactions
from Buffalo crowds, with a large contingent of fans hoping for
their team to lose in order to land the top pick.
Sabres president Ted Black even mentioned Buffalo's upcoming lottery
pick during a raffle for a Lexus vehicle. Black said it was the
"second-most important" lottery this year.
Sabres captain Brian Gionta believes the Sabres made some strides
over the second half of the season.
"It's what we said the last 20-plus games," Gionta said. "We've got
to start playing the right way and you can't wait to next year to
kind of turn it on. We've got to start building something now ...
now it's just a matter of being able to finish and find ways to get
over the hump."
NOTES: D Mike Weber (sports hernia), RW Jerry D'Amigo (upper body),
D Andre Benoit (upper body) and G Chad Johnson (lower body) were
scratched for the Sabres. ... D Kris Letang (concussion), D
Christian Ehrhoff (concussion) and D Derrick Pouliot (upper body)
were scratched for the Penguins. ... Before the game, the Sabres
gave season awards to three players: Weber (unsung hero), LW Nicolas
Deslauriers (rookie of the year) and C Tyler Ennis (MVP). Each award
was determined by Sabres players. ... In the previous meeting
between these two teams, Pittsburgh defeated Buffalo 6-1 on Nov. 8.
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
