Carter scores four goals to lift Penguins past Sabres

PITTSBURGH -- Jeff Carter scored four goals for the Pittsburgh Penguins in an 8-4 win against the Buffalo Sabres at PPG Paints Arena on Thursday.

It was Carter's first four-goal game in the NHL and seventh hat trick. His last was March 29, 2018, for the Los Angeles Kings against the Arizona Coyotes.
"I don't know what happened out there, to be honest with you," Carter said. "The puck was following me all night."
Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, Jared McCann had a goal and two assists, and Tristan Jarry made 19 saves for Pittsburgh (36-16-3), which has won eight of 10. The Penguins are first in the eight-team MassMutual East Division, two points ahead of the second-place Washington Capitals.
Drake Caggiula scored twice, and Michael Houser made 26 saves for Buffalo (15-33-7), which has lost five of seven will finish last in the NHL standings. The 28-year-old goalie won his first two NHL starts, against the New York Islanders on Monday and Tuesday, after not starting a professional game since March 7, 2020, in the ECHL.
The teams play here again Saturday in the regular-season finale for each.
"I like our confidence," Sabres coach Don Granato said. "I like our thought that we can go score, but we didn't know what we should respect enough. … We didn't respect the fact that we're playing against a team that, if we don't take care of things the right way, the puck the right way, they can score quick and convert quick."
The Penguins, Capitals, Boston Bruins and Islanders have clinched the four Stanley Cup Playoff berths from the eight-team division.
After Caggiula gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead with a snap shot at 2:45 of the first period, Carter scored two goals 1:42 apart to put Pittsburgh ahead.
Rasmus Ristolainen nearly denied Carter his first goal, when a shot got past Houser before Ristolainen scooped it away as it crossed the goal line at 9:57. Play continued for 54 seconds before being stopped, and it was ruled a goal after a review, tying the game 1-1.
Carter gave the Penguins a 2-1 lead with a one-timer on the power play at 11:39.
"There aren't too many four-goal games around the whole League," Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. "It's hard. It's hard to score goals in this league, never mind four in a game. It doesn't happen very often. It's a huge accomplishment. He had a terrific game for us."

The teams combined for five goals in a span of 3:53 in the second period.
Tage Thompson tapped a pass from Casey Mittelstadt through Jarry's five-hole, tying it 2-2 at 3:32.
Carter put the Penguins on top 3-2 at 4:36, scoring on a rebound off a shot from Marcus Pettersson.
Caggiula tied it 3-3 on a wrist shot at 5:13. His goals were his first two since being claimed off waivers from the Coyotes on April 9. He has scored three in 37 games this season.
"Looking at it individually, it's been a tough year in terms of goal-scoring," Caggiula said. "It feels good to get that monkey off your back. It's a little late in the season now, but you'll take them any way you can get them."
Brian Dumoulin scored on a slap shot, putting the Penguins ahead 4-3 at 6:26. McCann made it 5-3 with a snap shot from the high slot at 7:25.
Carter scored on a backhand for his fourth of the game, extending the lead to 6-3 at 3:02 of the third period.
"I've had a few hat tricks before," Carter said. "When you get three, you hopefully get four. But I had quite a bit of time left after the third one. So I was definitely pushing for it for sure."

Crosby deflected a shot from Kris Letang to make it 7-3 at 6:25. Jeff Skinner cut it to 7-4 with a power-play goal at 9:45.
"You've got to keep working," Skinner said. "You have a bad game, you go over it and you fix mistakes. You use that experience going forward."
Kasperi Kapanen scored on a snap shot at 13:05 for the 8-4 final.
"We know, in the playoffs, it's going to be real tight," Letang said. "Based on the schedule we had, we faced teams that were already out of the playoffs. So we have to focus on our games and play the right way so we go into the playoffs feeling good about ourselves both offensively and defensively."
NOTES: Carter is the first Penguins player to score four goals in a game since Jake Guentzel had four goals and an assist against the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference First Round on April 22, 2018. … Carter has scored eight goals in 13 games with the Penguins since being acquired in a trade from the Kings on April 12. He scored eight goals in 40 games with Los Angeles this season. … Pittsburgh forward Frederick Gaudreau had three assists. … Penguins forward Evgeni Malkn has at least one assist in the three games he's played since missing 23 with a lower-body injury. ... Houser was raised in the Pittsburgh suburb of Wexford, Pennsylvania after moving from Youngstown, Ohio. ... Sabres forward Brett Murray had one shot and one hit playing 11:10 in his NHL debut.