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Tuesday, Nov. 30 7:30pm ET
Barrasso stops 32 of 33 Sabre shots | |||||
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BOX SCORE
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Goalie Tom Barrasso along with the Pittsburgh power play, was the combination the Penguins needed to finally win a game in Buffalo. Barrasso made 32 saves and Jaromir Jagr scored his NHL-leading 20th goal to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 4-1 win Tuesday night over the Sabres, their first victory at Marine Midland Arena. Pittsburgh won in Buffalo for the first time since Jan. 17, 1996, when Jagr's goal 59 seconds into the game and Barrasso's 31 saves forged a 1-0 victory at the old Memorial Auditorium. The Penguins improved to 1-6-1 in Buffalo's new arena, which opened three years ago. Jagr and German Titov scored on power plays in the first period, Alexei Kovalev added a power-play goal and Robert Lang capped the scoring in the third for Pittsburgh. "They just took bad penalties, and that cost them the game," said Jagr, who has scored in 15 of the team's 22 games. "They were a lot better team than us five-on-five, but the power play helped us a lot, and Tommy Barrasso played an excellent game. I would say he won the game for us, plus the power play." Michal Grosek cut the lead to 2-1 early in the second for Buffalo, and Sabres rookie goalie Martin Biron made 17 saves. Barrasso, playing in only his fifth game of the season and third since returning from a knee injury sustained in the season's second game, made some big saves including stops on two Dixon Ward breakaways. "I was very impressed," Ward said. "He stood in there strong and made some real good saves in traffic. We should have had four or five goals tonight." The Penguins took a 2-0 lead after Brian Holzinger and Vaclav Varada both were called for penalties with 2:41 left in the first. Jagr blasted the puck in off the post after Biron stopped Titov from in close for the game's first goal. Titov then flipped in a rebound with 41.8 seconds left in the period, and one second left on the power play. "We had some discipline problems," Sabres center Curtis Brown said. "You can't give them opportunities." The Penguins hadn't managed more than one power-play goal in any other game this year. "We haven't been a good power-play team on the road," Pittsburgh coach Kevin Constantine said. "You've got to take advantage of your power plays, and tonight we did." Grosek scored after Curtis Brown dug the puck out from behind the net. Grosek skated out in front, while being pestered by Penguins defenseman Michal Rozsival, and flipped the puck past Barrasso for his sixth goal at 4:36 of the second. But that was it for Buffalo, which lost its second straight at home and is 0-11-1 in games it has trailed after two periods. Barrasso stopped a breakaway by Ward at 7:15 of the second period and another with seven minutes left in the game. Barrasso also robbed Buffalo's leading goal scorer, Miroslav Satan, on a quick shot from the bottom of the right circle with 1:28 left in the second. The Pittsburgh goalie came up with another huge save on Ward midway through the third, sprawling to get his left arm in front of a backhander during a scramble in front. "I don't know if I'm frustrated," said Ward, who has scored only one goal this season. "Maybe dumbfounded as to why it's not going in." Pittsburgh made it 3-1 on Kovalev's eighth goal with 5:21 to play. The goal came six seconds after the Penguins failed to get off a shot with a five-on-three advantage, and was scored with Michael Peca in the box for interfering with Barrasso behind the net. "You don't see anybody hit a goaltender in this league right now and not get a penalty called, so it might not have been the smartest play," Barrasso said. "The unwritten rule is you don't hit the goalies, and usually when you do bad things happen." Lang scored his 10th goal wth 2:13 to play. | ALSO SEE NHL Scoreboard Pittsburgh Clubhouse Buffalo Clubhouse RECAPS Ottawa 2 Chicago 1
Pittsburgh 4 AUDIO/VIDEO   Jaromir Jagr connects on the slap-shot.avi: 638 k RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1   | |||||