Luukkonen makes 40 saves, Sabres defeat Penguins

PITTSBURGH -- Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 40 saves for the Buffalo Sabres in a 3-1 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

Zemgus Girgensons scored the go-ahead goal late in the third period, and Alex Tuch and Rasmus Dahlin also scored for the Sabres (17-19-4), who have won consecutive games for the first time since Nov. 29-Dec. 1.

“I've said it for weeks now, it's a mentality,” Buffalo coach Don Granato said. “Talked about some mojo, some swagger. We didn't have that and we played with fear. Tonight, you don't come through that game unless you have that swagger and fearlessness."

Tristan Jarry made 29 saves, and Rickard Rakell scored for the Penguins (19-15-4), who have lost two of three following a six-game point streak (5-0-1).

"There was a lot of the game that we really liked,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I feel like we generated an exorbitant amount of scoring chances. We had a number of Grade-A looks. They just didn't go in. ... We did a lot of things that we set out to accomplish. We just didn't win on the scoreboard."

Girgensons put Buffalo ahead 2-1 at 15:22 of the third, collecting the puck off a point shot from Eric Robinson and scoring with a backhand.

Dahlin made it 3-1 at 18:24 with an empty-net goal.

"Sometimes that happens. Their goalie played a good game,” Jarry said. “We were putting a lot of pucks on net. Obviously, when we're hitting the post and we're trying to get to the net, and try to get rebounds, that's the game we need to play. Obviously, it didn't go our way tonight."

Tuch put the Sabres ahead 1-0 on their second shot on goal at 2:53 of the first period. He received a stretch pass from Connor Clifton and scored with a snap shot from the high slot over Jarry’s blocker.

The Penguins had two goals overturned on coach's challenges from the Sabres.

Drew O'Connor appeared to score in front at 15:50 off a backhand pass from Sidney Crosby, but the goal was disallowed after video review determined that Crosby was offside.

Jake Guentzel then deflected a shot from Crosby past Luukkonen at 18:55, but the goal was overturned after video review showed Guentzel interfered with the Buffalo goalie.

"It's incredible. I think that was the most confident, poised I've seen him play in his whole career," Tuch said of Luukkonen. "He's got a shutout or two, but that was just so much confidence. You know what? A couple of goals against that ended up going back and he didn't get rattled at all.

"He went right back in there, made a couple big saves on breakaways. Never wavered. I thought he was reading the play really well."

Pittsburgh then failed to score on three breakaways. Crosby had a snap shot turned away at 5:29 of the first before before Rakell had a wrist shot denied at 5:32 of the second period. Guentzel couldn’t put a backhand through Luukkonen’s five-hole at 15:55.

"They were good reads," Luukkonen said. "It feels good to make those saves in those types of games and those types of situations. Sometimes that happens, there's some defensive breakdowns, but it feels good to come up with the saves."

Rakell did tie it 1-1 at 7:49 of the third, deflecting in a shot from Erik Karlsson with eight seconds remaining on a 5-on-3 power play. He has four goals in his past seven games after failing to score in his first 19 this season.

"Felt we were right there,” Rakell said. “We had zone time and we created pretty much every shift. It's a tough bounce, getting those disallowed, but I didn't think they affected us too much at the start of the game because they gave us momentum to keep going."

NOTES: Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson had three shots on goal in 23:18 of ice time in his 400th NHL game. ... Tuch and Sabres forward Jordan Greenway each played after missing practice Friday because of an illness; Tuch had 19:06 of ice time, and Greenway played 20:19.