BUFFALO, N.Y. — These Buffalo Sabres are bad. Like, really bad.
They haven’t scored a goal in three games — the first time in franchise history that has happened — have dropped 10 of their past 11 and managed one measly shot on four power-play chances Friday.
But pegging the Penguins’ 4-0 win at KeyBank Center to the Sabres’ ineptitude would be wrong and unfair to the winners.
The Penguins delivered one of their most complete performances of the season and followed pretty much the perfect script to help Tristan Jarry pick up his first NHL shutout.
“We jumped on them pretty early and got some momentum from that,” Sidney Crosby said.
Certainly did. Good recipe for success, too.
The Penguins scored three goals in the first period to improve to 12-2-2 when getting the first goal of the game.
But looking at why and how this all happened sheds more light than a couple of numbers:
• First goal came courtesy of Tom Kuhnhackl, who had none in the first 26 games of the season. Furthermore, Kuhnhackl was part of a fourth line that entered this game with two goals between the three players who comprised it.
But on a penalty shot, Kuhnhackl whipped a shot high-glove past Robin Lehner, taking some prescient advice from Evgeni Malkin, who told Kuhnhackl precisely where to shoot.
“I trusted Geno there,” Kuhnhackl said. “I’m glad I did.”
• Rasmus Ristolainen, clearly in the giving spirit, started the holidays early with a present to Crosby, who finished from the inner-edge of the right circle to make it 2-0.
The turnover was atrocious, but capitalizing on it is something Crosby has done more lately, at least in terms of goals and points.
Friday marked five games in a row with points for Crosby, a run that includes five goals and 11 total points.
Yeah, he’s back.
Ditto for the Penguins offense, which has 14 goals over its past three games, six of them coming in five-on-five play.
“Some of these games we’ve gotten some good ones in around the net, some dirty goals,” Crosby said. “But besides that, I think we’re just executing.
“It’s great to see some of these going in. If we keep generating those chances, continue to play the same way and be strong around the other team’s net, hopefully we can keep finding those.”
• Don’t forget about Jarry.
The Sabres presented an offensive challenge that was similar at times to a bunch of elderly nuns, but Jarry was required to make a few scramble saves, 34 in total.
Hardly an issue for the Penguins’ de facto No. 1 netminder.
“Great game by him,” Crosby said.
“I’m sure it’s a great thrill for him to get a shutout,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan added. “I thought he played really well throughout the course of the game.”
• Let’s use this point to transition to Patric Hornqvist, the man who scooped up the puck after the horn sounded and handed it to Jarry, the same as he did for Jarry’s first win.
The dude just keeps going and going. Even as Sullivan spoke, and players started and finished their workouts and some had a bite to eat, Hornqvist cranked the pedals on a stationary bike, sweat dripping down his face.
No wonder he worked his way to the Penguins’ fourth goal, or that his play has been the drumbeat pretty much of the Penguins’ entire season.
“What we love about ‘Horny’ is you get the same thing every night from him,” Sullivan said. “He’s so full of passion. He’s so full of energy out there. He’s a bundle of energy on the bench. It’s contagious.”
• Sort of like scoring, apparently.
As Crosby has starting racking up points, so, too, has Jake Guentzel, who got the Penguins’ third goal on a nifty wraparound.
In fact, Guentzel has been red-hot for a couple of weeks, with six goals in his past five games and nine over his past 12.
Sullivan has liked Guentzel’s willingness to go to the net. That always has been there, of course, but he’s simply starting to get a few bounces.
“We think Jake’s game has really grown here in the last three or four weeks,” Sullivan said. “Now he’s starting to get rewarded for it.”
All of this was coming, if you think about it.
The Penguins weren’t going to scuffle on offense the entire season; they’re hardly mediocre when it comes to scoring goals.
Eventually water finds its level, and that’s a little bit of what we’re seeing here.
We’re also watching a hockey team get some seriously key ingredients — killing all four penalties, getting a lead and rolling four lines, your best players being your best players — and take advantage.
Who cares if it came against the Sabres? That stuff plays against anyone.
“When you get up a few goals like that early, those games can be challenging,” Sullivan said. “We talked about in between periods just making sure that we don’t exhale, that we continue to work to try to get the next goal and playing hard and playing the right way. I thought for the most part our guys did a pretty good job.”
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: December 2, 2017, 2:54 a.m.