Former Penguins forward, Conor Sheary struck twice in the Buffalo Sabres’ 3-1 win over the Pens in Pittsburgh Thursday night.
“I think you just want to prove to people that you can still play,” said Sheary, who won the Stanley Cup with the Penguins in 2016 and 2017 before being traded to the Sabres on June 27, 2018. “You kind of get the feeling that someone doesn’t want you when they trade you. I think I took that to heart. So coming back here is always fun.”
Carter Hutton made 28 saves for the Sabres in their first regulation win over the Penguins in six seasons.
“I’m just proud and pleased at the effort that we had in all areas today,” Sabres head coach Ralph Krueger said. “We began with a fury the first 10 minutes, dominating. For us to get the lead was good for our confidence, and the guys never left a foot off the gas. We stayed on our toes right through the finish line.”
Evgeni Malkin scored the Pens lone goal.
“We just weren’t good enough,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said. “That’s what I told our guys after the game. I know we’re capable of being better. We just weren’t good enough tonight in a lot of areas. I don’t think you can just sit and point at any one area.
“I think it was a lot of areas of our game where we just didn’t have an element of consistency. I don’t think there was cooperative effort. It’s hard to play this game in the absence of it.”
Rasmus Dahlin struck with 44 seconds left in the middle frame to give the Sabres a 3-1 lead.
“We played together a lot last year and hang out quite a bit away [from the ice]. So it seems like it works well. Obviously, it was nice to get a few tonight,” the Sabres Casey Mittelstadt said of his mix with Sheary.
[WATCH:Â All Sabres vs. Penguins highlights]
Matt Murray made 38 saves in the loss.
“We need to play faster. We need to play hungry,” Malkin said. “It’s not good for us, how we played tonight. We need to change. … The season started already. We need to understand that. It’s not like we have 20 games to wake up. No, it already started. Every point is important.”
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