Jarry, Penguins sweep home-and-home from Sabres

PITTSBURGH -- Tristan Jarry made 32 saves to help the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Buffalo Sabres for a second straight night, 5-1 at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Jarry, who has assumed the starting role with Matt Murray recovering from a lower-body injury, made 34 saves for his first NHL shutout in a 4-0 win against the Sabres on Friday. He has won in four straight appearances after beginning his NHL career 0-1-2.

WATCH: [All Sabres vs. Penguins highlights]
"I was excited with the challenge [of starting on consecutive nights]," Jarry said. "It's not something that happens too often at the NHL level. They wanted to see if I could do it and I was up for the challenge."
Pittsburgh (15-10-3) has won four straight games since losing its previous three in regulation. It is 14-0-1 against Buffalo since a 4-2 loss on April 23, 2013.
Evgeni Malkin opened the scoring in the first period with his first goal since returning Friday from missing four games with an upper-body injury. Carl Hagelin and Patric Hornqvist each scored in the second period to give Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead.

Jason Pominville cut Pittsburgh's lead to 3-1 at 11:18 of the third period. The goal was Buffalo's first in 232:09 dating to Nov. 24, when Kyle Okposo scored into an empty net with 51 seconds remaining in a 3-1 win against the Edmonton Oilers.
"I think, mentally, hopefully it feels good for the team to get one and not have to talk about this for, hopefully, a little while," Pominville said. "We still have work to do and we know [that]. We have to be better and that was a step, but again, there are still a few more steps we need to take."
Phil Kessel made it 4-1 at 13:14 before Sidney Crosby pushed it to 5-1 by scoring into an empty net at 18:58.
Crosby, who had two points (one goal, one assist) has at least one goal in each of his past five games after scoring once in his previous 15. He has 13 points (six goals, seven assists) during a six-game point streak.
"I don't think there's any special formula," Crosby said. "I think you go to the net hard. You get pucks to the net. All those habits, all those same things. And make sure you find a way to execute. I think our mindset has been to get more pucks and more people to the net and we've done that."
The Sabres (6-17-4) have lost 11 of their past 12 games (1-9-2). Despite losing by four goals for a second straight night, Buffalo coach Phil Housley was pleased with his team's effort even if the execution wasn't always there.
"I think we came with a lot of emotion," Housley said. "They played for one another tonight. … We can't make mistakes right now because of the position we're in. We're not getting enough run support to support mistakes."
Malkin scored with 1:16 remaining in the first period to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. He carried the puck down the far wall and shot over a sliding Marco Scandella and Chad Johnson's glove.
Hagelin extended the lead to 2-0 when he carried the puck above Buffalo's crease. Johnson fell forward while tracking the play, allowing Hagelin to shoot over him at 5:36 of the second period.
Hornqvist made it 3-0 during a 4-on-3 power play with 1:00 remaining in the second. Crosby stickhandled around Jack Eichel and slid a pass for Hornqvist to tap past Johnson for his 10th goal of the season.

Goal of the game

Malkin's goal at 18:44 of the first period.

Save of the game

Jarry stopping a slap shot from Scandella at 8:43 of the third period.

Highlight of the game

Hornqvist's goal at 19:00 of the second period.

They said it

"It's hard to rely on a few guys to score goals each and every night. So when you get those contributions [from role players] in a timely fashion like we have the last handful of games here, it certainly helps." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan
"Obviously, we have to get the puck to the net to score. I thought we did a better job of it, but we need to still get better at it. … It's a tough one to swallow. We played hard, but there are no moral victories in this league." -- Sabres forward Jack Eichel

Need to know

Sabres defenseman Nathan Beaulieu played 7:46 before leaving in the second period with an undisclosed injury. … Scandella played in his 400th NHL game. … Sabres forward Matt Moulson was a healthy scratch after failing to score in his first 14 games this season. Forward Hudson Fasching, who was recalled from Rochester on Saturday, entered the lineup and had three hits in 10:57. … Pittsburgh began a season-long five-game homestand that will run through Dec. 11.

What's next

Sabres: At the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET; ALT, MSG-B, NHL.TV)
Penguins:Host the New York Rangers on Tuesday (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, SN, ATTSN-PT, MSG, NHL.TV)