Postgame Report | Krebs scores lone goal in road loss to Penguins

PITTSBURGH - Kyle Okposo saw similarities in the two games the Sabres played against the Pittsburgh Penguins, both close losses in which the Sabres largely controlled possession.
The Sabres fell in overtime to the Penguins at home on Friday. In the rematch at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday, they fell behind 2-0 early but controlled play for most of final 40 minutes. They were unable to push the tying goal past Casey DeSmith in a 3-1 loss.
"It was a lot like the game last night, to be honest with you," Okposo said. "We did get better as the game went on. I don't think they can play at our pace and we just kind of wore on them and we just weren't able to find the equalizer."
Peyton Krebs scored to end DeSmith's shutout with nine minutes remaining and cut the Sabres' deficit to 2-1, but DeSmith prevented the tying goal long enough for Sidney Crosby to restore the Penguins' two-goal lead with 1:38 on the clock.

The Sabres outshot the Penguins 38-31. DeSmith made 37 saves for the Penguins, who received a pair of goals from Crosby and another from Rakell.
Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen made 28 saves in his first career start against Pittsburgh.

How it happened

PERIOD 1
The Penguins earned a pair of power plays in the first four minutes, the latter of which saw Rakell bury a rebound to put them on the board. Crosby carried the puck from behind the goal line and buried a backhand shot to make it 2-0 at 6:51.
The Sabres earned their own pair of power plays in the back half of the period, tallying four shots on goal and two other attempts off the post from Dylan Cozens and Rasmus Dahlin.
PERIOD 2
The Sabres earned edges in shot attempts (17-10) and shots (11-10) but were held off the board by DeSmith, whose period includes saves on close chances from Dahlin and Krebs.
PERIOD 3
Krebs tipped a shot from Casey Fitzgerald to put the Sabres on the board with nine minutes remaining.

The Sabres outshot the Penguins 17-9 in the period but were unable to push the tying goal past DeSmith.
Crosby added his second goal with 1:38 remaining to put the game out of reach.

What we learned

1.Despite their high shot total, Don Granato felt the Sabres passed up too many chances in favor of trying to create a perfect scoring chance.
"I thought we could have got more traffic and we could have had a greater shot mentality," he said. "I think sometimes you score a lot of goals and you get a false sense of confidence that you can make things pretty all the time. We forwent scoring gritty and just shooting the puck and going for second chances on some occasions that I thought would have helped us."

2. The Sabres were without defenseman Henri Jokiharju, who is week to week after sustaining a lower-body injury against the Penguins on Friday.
Kale Clague was recalled from Rochester and joined the lineup on defense in place of Jokiharju, skating 12:51 with a shot, four hits and two blocks.
"We just talked about stepping up before the game," Okposo said. "We have to be able to withstand injuries. It's part of the league, it's part of the NHL, it's part of being a good team. It's unfortunate we didn't get the result tonight but we had a lot of guys that played well and stepped up in some new roles. Need more of the same moving forward, for sure."
3. Casey Mittelstadt joined the top line alongside Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch in the absence of Jeff Skinner, who was suspended three games by the NHL Department of Player Safety for cross-checking Penguins forward Jake Guentzel on Friday.
4.The line of Peterka, Cozens, and Jack Quinn combined for 16 shot attempts, including eight shots on goal.
"They were good again," Granato said. "They were they were on top of Pitt in their transition and they played with a lot of speed. They showed a lot of skill. You know, again, I think if there was a fault, they were they were looking to be a little bit too fancy and pretty at times but, hey, their effort was great. And that's part of them gaining experience, too."
5.Krebs scored for the second time in three games after netting his first goal of the season in Columbus on Wednesday. He credited the recent success in part to his linemates, Okposo and Zemgus Girgensons.
"We battle hard together and I think having them two guys allows me to stick with it and have a lot of fun," he said. "I think at the start of the year I was maybe a little tense trying to do so much and now I'm just trying to keep it simple."

6.Dahlin skated a career-high 30:19. Shot attemps were 30-13 in favor of the Sabres when he was on the ice at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick.

#

Up next

The Sabres host the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday. Tickets are on sale now.
Coverage on MSG begins at 6:30 p.m. The puck drops at 7 on MSG and WGR 550.