Crosby And Penguins Continue Their Streaks With Win Over Sabres

Added on Dec 13, 2010 by J Merrill in

NHL

The streak happy Penguins march on after Saturdays game against the Sabres. Crosby had an assist on Alex Goligoski’s third-period goal lengthened his points streak to 18 games, and Goligoski’s goal proved to be the winner as Pittsburgh made it 12 consecutive victories by beating the Buffalo Sabres 5-2. The 18 game streak is one shy of his career best that was set in October and November of 2007. He has 36 points (20 goals and 16 assists) during this one and can match his career-best when the Penguins visit Philadelphia on Tuesday.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury extended a streak as well. He stopped 34 all together in the game, and that was enough to give him his 11th in a row. He’s 13-0-1 in his last 14 appearances, including a 1-0 win on Nov. 24. In all, he stopped 64 of 66 shots at HSBC Arena this season. Fleury said after the game he loved playing in the building and his team made it easy on him. He said “I like to play here. It’s a fun building. Like every night the guys are doing a great job of blocking shots and taking rebounds away. That’s a big help.”

Winning 12 in a row quickly moved the Penguins to the lead atop the overall NHL standings and matched a franchise-best by winning their seventh consecutive road game. Coach Dan Bylsma said it was a special a moment, and they should be proud, but come time they need to put that behind them. He said “We were talking before the game that none of us have had an opportunity to win 12 in a row. t feels good to get it. We’re going to put this one behind us and move on to the next one as quickly as we can.”

The Penguins recently called up Dustin Jeffrey, and it ended up being a smart idea with a dose of good timing. He scored the game’s first goal at 13:17 of the first period and set up Mike Rupp’s goal with 3:17 left in the game that made it 4-2. Bylsma understood how big those plays were as well, and is already praising the kid. He said “Jeffrey gets his first game of the year and starts us off with a goal. He goes to the net and gets the goal. They got a huge goal with three minutes left. They got to the offensive zone and had guys in the blue paint. That one sealed the deal for us.”

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff felt the game was decided in between the blue lines, and poor puck movement was to blame. When the puck went their way they didn’t convert, but he also didnt want to take anything away from the Penguins. “We created some turnovers, we didn’t finish. Give them credit, they took advantage of the turnovers.”

The Penguins (21-8-2, 44pts), who are 1st in Atlantic Division, will face the Philadelphia Flyers (19-7-5, 43pts) in Philadelphia Tuesday. The Buffalo Sabres(12-14-4, 28pts), who are 3rd in Northeast Division, will face the Boston Bruins (16-8-4, 36pts) on Wednesday.