BUFFALO, N.Y. — Kris Letang barreled through the slot and toward the net in the first period Saturday night, and was slightly off balance when he released a shot that trickled just inches wide of the goal.
It nearly turned into his third score of the game, with 41 minutes, 30 seconds of hockey left to play.
It was that kind of night for the Penguins, who clubbed the hapless Sabres, 6-1, at First Niagara Center and soared to a seventh consecutive victory.
Letang scored twice, Patric Hornqvist scored twice, Robert Bortuzzo scored his first of the season, Evgeni Malkin added one, and Sidney Crosby assisted on the first five goals — tying his career high for assists in a game.
“It’s always fun to score goals. We’re not going to lie about that,” said Letang, who tripled his season goal production in less than 20 minutes. “When you look at those goals, Sid has been playing unbelievable lately, carrying the team like he used to. We’re playing well.”
Getting the defense to join the rush has been a point of emphasis for coach Mike Johnston — who Saturday got three tallies from his defensemen. He added that it was nice to see Letang convert.
“I thought, once again it was good to see our defense contribute. Two goals from Letang, one from Bortuzzo jumping into the play there. Want to see our defense start to support the rush,” Johnston said. “Kris Letang had a great night. I thought his game just keeps getting better and better. In Winnipeg he had a tough physical night. But the way he controlled the play, I thought he’s been a key part of our breakouts, a key part of our attack and finally he gets rewarded for it.”
Letang converted his first on a one-timer from the right circle just 1:21 into the game. He saucered the puck to Crosby, who was planted behind the goal. Crosby passed the puck right back and Letang one-timed it by goalie Jhonas Enroth.
Crosby extended a point streak against the Sabres to 19 games and said he has no real explanation for the streak.
“When I come here I feel like for some reason the ice has always been good,” Crosby said. “[I] feel good that way, sometimes that helps. That being said I don’t think there’s any real explanation. We’ve been in some low scoring games here.”
The Penguins went on a power play at 3:04 and just 27 seconds into that, Letang shot through traffic from the blue line off a feed from Crosby, and Hornqvist tipped the puck by Enroth to make it 2-0.
Letang’s next was another even-strength goal at 15:04, sailing through traffic from the point.
When the first-intermission horn sounded, the Penguins held an 11-4 advantage in shots.
The Sabres tallied their first shot of the game with less than seven minutes left in the period, and only after Tyler Myers sprang from the penalty box to corral a pass and head to the net to fire one at Marc-Andre Fleury.
Hornqvist made it 4-0 at 4:56 of the second on the power play, and Bortuzzo moved around a defender and lifted a shot over Enroth’s glove at 14:01 to make it 5-0.
The Sabres spoiled Fleury’s shutout bid at 16:52 when Zegmus Girgensons tipped a shot past him off a shot from defenseman Josh Gorges.
Malkin found the net at even strength with 44.5 seconds to go in the period to make it 6-1.
Certainly the dominant performance was not out of the blue.
The Penguins, heading into the contest, had won 14 of their past 19 games against the Sabres.
That included a stretch of four in a row when they outscored the Sabres, 17-2, and wins in five of their previous seven trips to Buffalo.
Johnston spoke to a desire to get his team to score more even-strength goals prior to the game, and the Penguins responded with four.
Jenn Menendez: jmenendez@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JennMenendez.
First Published: November 9, 2014, 2:37 a.m.
Updated: November 9, 2014, 4:36 a.m.
