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Sabres survive in battle of Eastern heavyweights

Buffalo Sabres v Pittsburgh Penguins

PITTSBURGH, PA - OCTOBER 15: Drew Stafford #21 of the Buffalo Sabres is congratulated by teammates on the bench after scoring against of the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third period during the game on October 15, 2011 at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)

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The new-look Sabres wasted no time recovering from their first defeat of the season as they traveled to Pittsburgh and beat the Penguins 3-2. Saturday’s game was the second game of a back-to-back situation that started with a 4-3 loss at home to the Carolina Hurricanes. Against the Penguins, the Sabres wasted no time as they jumped out to 2-0 lead by the end of the 1st period. The teams traded a pair of goals before Jordan Staal shaved the lead to a single goal with about five minutes left. The Penguins threw everything but the kitchen sink at the Sabres goal in the final minute, but Buffalo narrowly escaped with the regulation win.

The win improves the Sabres’ record to 3-1 on the young season—all three wins coming away from the First Niagara Center in Buffalo. This game was big for a few different reasons for the Sabres though. They wanted to get back to their winning ways, wanted to beat a team that should be battling with them at the end of the season for playoff positioning, as well as taking advantage of a shorthanded opponent. Sabres head coach Lindy Ruff shared after the game:

“We wanted to win this game bad. You get an opportunity to play a team without a couple of their star players, you’ve got to start taking advantage of it.”

Not a bad result for a team playing their back-up netminder.

On the other side of the rink, the loss dropped the Penguins to 3-1-2 on the young season. The first regulation loss certainly had its positives though. James Neal’s second period goal was his 5th of the season putting him in a tie for the league’s lead. The lucky bounce off of defenseman Robyn Regehr’s stick is just the latest in a charmed week for the former Stars forward. This is the goal scoring power forward GM Ray Shero thought he was getting when he acquired Neal from Dallas for promising defenseman Alex Goligoski. What will he be able to do when Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are back in the lineup?

The game was the final contest of an underwhelming 3-game homestand. Next, the Pens head back to Canada for their fourth game above the border in the early part of October. At least they’ll be able to rack-up those frequent flier miles and pack away the passports early in the season.