Dan Bylsma’s return to Pittsburgh started nicely enough.
But it didn’t end well.
Disco Dan’s old team handled his new one on Thursday night, as the Penguins “exploded” on offense to beat the Sabres 4-3 at Consol.
By “exploded,” we’re talking in terms relative to the Penguins, who came into tonight with the NHL’s 29th-ranked offense (1.78 goals per game). The fireworks were led by captain Sidney Crosby, who broke out of a lengthy scoring slump with a pair of assists for just his second multi-point outing of the year.
Crosby set up linemates Pascal Dupuis and Patric Hornqvist for their first goals of the season, in an entertaining opening period that saw the teams combine for four goals and 22 shots on net.
Ben Lovejoy and Evgeni Malkin also scored -- Malkin with the game-winner -- as the Pens notched their third straight victory. Jeff Zatkoff, making his first start of the year, posted a whopping 50-save effort.
As for the Sabres, they’ll probably look back on this one with a bit of regret. Though they came into the game undermanned and made Tyler Ennis a late scratch (lower body), they still dominated the flow of play for large stretches and -- as Zatkoff’s save total suggests -- badly out-shot the Penguins, to the tune of 53-29.
Buffalo also wasted good offensive outings from Ryan O’Reilly (1G, 1A) and Rasmus Ristolainen (2A).