BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Before the Penguins embarked on this brief road trip, Mike Sullivan spoke after a practice of the importance of not underestimating the Sabres in this two-game series despite their being in the basement of the NHL's overall standings and having some key players hurt.
"Just because a team is going through a time of struggle doesn't mean they don't have good players and competitive players," Sullivan said. "On any given night, if you don't bring your 'A' game, you run the risk of getting beat. That's just the reality of the league."
The Penguins brought their 'A' game, and are leaving here with four points, capping the series by blanking the Sabres, 3-0, Saturday night at KeyBank Center.
A few individual players brought their A-plus game.
Jake Guentzel set a career high in shots on goal with eight, exactly a quarter of all shots faced by Buffalo's Carter Hutton. The only one Hutton couldn't stop proved to be the only one that was needed:
"Just on the faceoff, just trying to do a little play," Guentzel said of the goal. "Obviously good help by (Sidney Crosby) and (Bryan Rust) to get it over up to (Kris Letang) and (Evgeni Malkin). (Malkin) found me in the slot alone, I just tried to tip it in. I got a stick on it in the air, so definitely one I'll take there."
I asked Guentzel if he had more of a shoot-first mentality in this game.
"I don't know," he said. "I think it's just trying to get my shot off. The puck might have found me a couple of times, I'm just trying to shoot the puck as much as I can. A couple of good saves, but I'm glad to get that one."
Guentzel now has goals in three straight games and a team-high 10 on the season. He's produced at a point-per-game pace in his last 12 games, with five goals and seven assists.
"It's been getting better as the season's gone on," Guentzel said of his overall performance. "Obviously the start, I didn't like as much as I wanted to. But I think for now, I'm starting to feel the swing of things and getting ready to go."
Mike Sullivan summed up Guentzel's play as of late.
"He's just a good player," he said. "He's so gifted. He sees the ice so well. I think his hockey IQ might be his best attribute, and his competitiveness. He just finds the ice where opportunity presents itself for him. He's got a knack to find the back of the net. He's a goal-scorer. There's no other way to describe his game. He can be opportunistic. He doesn't need a lot of chances to bury pucks. And when he gets them, usually some of them end up in the back of the net."
Another forward who had a huge impact on the game, albeit one who didn't appear on the scoresheet, was Rust.
When the Penguins were on the power play late in the third, clinging to a one-goal lead, the Sabres' Tobias Reider took off on a short-handed break. Casey DeSmith never even got to make the save, because Rust hustled back to break up the chance himself:
"That was huge," DeSmith said of Rust's effort on that play. "You know, he's one of the fastest guys in the league, and he showed it on that play. That was huge for us, preventing a shot there."
Rust had another key play late in the third, blocking a slap shot from Rasmus Dahlin:
"He just does those little things that add up to winning," Brian Dumoulin said of Rust. "Regardless of if he scores or not -- he usually does -- he's also doing a little extra to secure wins for us. He's such an all-around great player."
"Those are the types of plays that help teams win," Sullivan said. "They don't necessarily show up on the scoresheet, but they're a big part of winning games. It's a great backcheck on our power play, and the shot block takes a whole lot of courage at that time of the game. But that's what it takes to win. And that's why he's on the ice, because he's willing to pay the price for the good of the team. That was a huge part of the win, I think."
The efforts by Rust helped preserve DeSmith's 24-save shutout, the fifth of his career and first in nearly two years.
"It feels good," DeSmith said. "Obviously the win is the most important, but a shutout's even better."
The win increased the Penguins' winning streak to five. They're third in the East Division, three points behind the Capitals, five behind the Islanders.
"We're definitely trending in the right direction." Dumoulin said. "We've been playing really good hockey and putting ourselves in good spots each period. We're really focusing on trying to control the play, and as you can see, we've been in every game. A couple of these have been tight games going into the third period, so I think we've been getting better in the third period, trying to attack them and play with the lead. It's good to be getting these points right now, and obviously we have to keep focusing on the next one."
And to keep doing that they'll have to keep bringing their 'A' game, even against teams like the Sabres.
"I think for the most part, guys did a good job," Sullivan said of the Penguins' effort here. "It's like most nights -- there are stretches in the game where your opponent pushes and gets some momentum. ... These are all competitive games. Regardless of where teams sit in the standings, they're all good teams. And on any given night, anybody can beat anybody. There's a lot of parity in this league."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Sidney Crosby and Mark Jankowski picked up empty-netters, with Crosby's coming from below the Penguins' goal line, covering almost the entire 200-foot length of the rink.
• Sullivan explained the decision to start DeSmith.
"Well, we're going through a stretch of games here where we're playing a lot of games in a short period of time," he said. "I believe we're going to play 10 games in 16 nights. And so that's a heavy workload for one guy. So we're going to rely on both guys here. Both guys give us a chance to win, and Casey did a terrific job for us tonight. I also think it gives Tristan a chance to get some rest so that he continue to be at his best. We're trying to keep both guys at their best, just because of the logistics of the schedule we're going to have to use both guys. Right now, we like where they're both at. They're both giving us a chance to win every night."
• I don't know why the Sabres even have their mascot at the game when there aren't any fans yet, but it was hilarious watching him either way. For a lot of the third period, he just sat on a couch set up in his area and shook his head in disappointment. I know the Flyers had Gritty at games all season without fans, but that's different. Sabretooth, you're no Gritty.
• In case you missed it, here's locker room DJ Brian Dumoulin's playlist for the Penguins' room. Feel free to criticize his choices in the comments.
• At least Buffalo fans can find humor in what's happening this season.
#Consistency #Sabres pic.twitter.com/FADGMCEvZp
— Sabres Banners (@BannersSabres) March 14, 2021
THE ESSENTIALS
THE THREE STARS
As selected at KeyBank Center:
1. Jake Guentzel, Penguins
2. Casey DeSmith, Penguins
3. Carter Hutton, Sabres
THE INJURIES
• Forward Jason Zucker is out "longer-term" with a lower-body injury sustained on Feb. 23.
• Defenseman Mark Friedman is day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained on March 4.
• Forward Jared McCann is day-to-day with an upper-body injury sustained Sunday.
• Defenseman John Marino is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Evan Rodrigues-Evgeni Malkin-Kasperi Kapanen
Zach Aston-Reese-Teddy Blueger-Brandon Tanev
Colton Sceviour-Mark Jankowski-Anthony Angello
Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Mike Matheson-Cody Ceci
Marcus Pettersson-Chad Ruhwedel
And for Ralph Krueger's Sabres:
Taylor Hall-Riley Sheahan-Sam Reinhart
Victor Olofsson-Eric Staal-Tobias Reider
Jeff Skinner-Curtis Lazar-Casey Mittelstadt
Tage Thompson-Cody Eakin-Kyle Okposo
Jacob Bryson-Rasmus Ristolainen
Rasmus Dahlin-Brandon Montour
Brandon Davidson-Colin Miller
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins have a scheduled day off Sunday. They'll play back-to-back games against the Bruins on Monday and Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.
THE CONTENT
Visit our team page for everything.