5 takeaways | Mittelstadt, Thompson continue to contribute in loss

It was a fight until the end once again, but this time a third-period comeback effort by the Sabres fell short in a 3-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins at KeyBank Center on Saturday.
The loss snaps a three-game point streak for the Sabres, who entered with a 5-2-3 record in their previous 10 contests. They will have a chance at a rematch when the two teams meet again at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Tage Thompson and Casey Mittelstadt scored goals for Buffalo. Dustin Tokarski made 38 saves.
Here are five takeaways.

1. Penguins take control early

Pittsburgh was able to stymy Buffalo's transition attack early, leading to long stretches spent by the Sabres in their own zone. The Penguins played to an 8-3 advantage in scoring chances during the first period (according to Natural Stat Trick) and took a 1-0 lead on a bad-angle goal from Jared McCann.
"They were coming at us hard," Mittelstadt said. "They're an old, experienced team. They know how to play. I think we felt it out a little bit too long and you saw once we got going, we started making plays and getting pucks behind them and getting them back."
The biggest difference in the game in the eyes of interim head coach Don Granato was Pittsburgh's willingness to shoot, evidenced both by their 41 shots and by the first goal of the game. McCann retrieved the puck near the corner of the offensive zone and surprised Tokarski with a shot from below the goal line.
"They were very willing to just put a puck to the net," Granato said. "We were the opposite. We wanted to make one more play before we put it to the net. And that makes the game really hard. You expend a lot more energy. You end up chasing the game."

2. Thompson, Mittelstadt continue to produce

All that being said, the Sabres continued to display their no-quit attitude and nearly completed a comeback on the strength of two players who have become regular contributors of late.
Thompson put the Sabres on the board at 6:41 of the second period, just 44 seconds after Evan Rodrigues had scored to give the Penguins a 2-0 lead. The goal was his sixth of the season, five of which have come since April 1.

Sidney Crosby made a dazzling pass to set up a Bryan Rust power-play goal to increase Pittsburgh's lead to 3-1 during the third period. This time, it was Mittelstadt who responded by dropping to a knee and burying a one-time shot on the power play for his seventh goal and ninth point in 10 games.

"It's key opportunity for them and they're doing a great job pushing and fighting and scratching and clawing," Granato said. "It's going to be helpful in the future, there's no question, the effort they're putting in right now."

3. Another key matchup for Cozens

Dylan Cozens and his linemates turned in a dominant effort against Washington on Thursday despite spending the majority of the game matched up with either Nicklas Backstrom or Alex Ovechkin.
Granato kept the experience coming for Cozens, whose line saw more of Crosby than any other trio on Saturday.
"Great opportunity," Granato said. "As a player entering the NHL … it's gonna take a while to accept that they're an NHL player and move past that 'being in awe' phase. So, for our guys, it was Ovechkin the other night, Backstrom. Tonight, obviously Crosby.
"The sooner we can move on and not worry about who that is - certainly respect their skillset, but not worry about it - the better. I think Dylan was good in that regard tonight and only get better as all of them will."

4. Sabres move forward minus Okposo

The Sabres announced prior to the game that alternate captain Kyle Okposo will miss the remainder of the season after having surgery to repair a broken bone in his cheek. Okposo left the game Thursday after being hit by a shot on the left side of his face.
Okposo had been a consistent contributor under Granato, tallying 10 points (2+8) in his final 13 games of the season. Granato also credited the veteran as a leadership presence that eased the transition for a young team learning a new system over the past month.
"He's such a great communicator to us, to the teammates," Granato said. "Everybody looks up to him. So, we definitely lose a big portion of that. He's a guy that's around all the time and I'm sure he'll still be helping us in many respects."
Added Mittelstadt: "He's been everyone's rock pretty much. It hurts to see, for sure."
Steven Fogarty stepped into the lineup in place of Okposo and skated on a line with Tobias Rieder and Cody Eakin.

5. Up next

Same teams, same time tomorrow. The position to keep an eye on will be in goal, where the Sabres could either start Tokarski again on back-to-back afternoons or turn to rookie Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for his NHL debut. Luukkonen was reassigned from Rochester to the taxi squad on Saturday.
Coverage on Sunday begins at 2:30 p.m. on MSG. Puck drop is scheduled for 3.