Penguins Report Card: Standouts, Analysis, & 4th Line Love | PHN+

You probably can’t be fooled into thinking the comfortable score means the Penguins significantly outplayed the Buffalo Sabres on Thursday night in the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 win. No, the Penguins allowed Buffalo to have too many opportunities to tie the game, including Colin Wilson’s hard-luck shift late in the second period.

Wilson loudly rang the post twice before the Penguins tightened up in the third period, and Buffalo became winless in their last nine.

Unlike Tuesday night, the Penguins tightened the screws in the third period without abandoning offensive pressure.

“I thought I thought we played a decent period. We were trying to play the game the right way. I’ve always been a believer that when your mindset changes and you try to sit on a lead. It’s not a positive thing for a team,” Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan said. “And that’s one of the things we talked about in between periods, is we’ve got to continue to play on our toes. We’re going to continue to try to score the next goal.”

The Penguins got the important fourth goal from a fourth-liner when Anthony Angello ripped a top-shelf wrister from the right-wing circle.

You can check out our new Penguins postgame story, which includes gold stars and red marks.

Pittsburgh Penguins Report Card