The last place Sabres came in to Pittsburgh looking to come away with points against first place team in the Eastern Conference.
The Sabres were unable to solve Marc Andrew Fleury and the Penguins as they were downed 3-0.
Throughout the first period the Sabres were able to match the Penguins and limit the quality of their scoring chances.
Despite giving up 15 shots to their 5 the game remained tied 0-0 after one as Ryan Miller remained perfect through one period.
The Penguins broke the scoreless tie early in the second period. Sidney Crosby backhanded a puck through the crease where Brian Gibbons quickly fired at the net. The puck banked off of the left post and crossbar before finding the stick of Kunitz outside of the far-side face off circle. Kunitz made no mistake in burying the puck while the Sabres scrambled to find its location.
Pittsburgh extended their lead minutes later after Henrik Tallinder turned the puck over on the wall at the blue line. Tanner Glass grabbed the puck and skated deep into the Buffalo corner, throwing the puck into the slot and directly onto Deryk Engelland’s stick who made no mistake in going up high on a sprawling Ryan Miller.
The teams would exchange chances for the remainder of the period, with Buffalo out shooting the Penguins 11-10 in the second period.
Buffalo picked up pressure too little too late in the third period with only minutes remaining. With their goalie pulled, the Sabres scraped together a few great opportunities to put a puck in the net however could not solved Marc Andre Fleury, who remained perfect and recorded his 4th shutout of the year. Tanner Glass would guarantee the game for the Penguins with only 28 seconds remaining by scoring an empty net goal.
Despite being severely over matched, the Sabres showed poise while doing a good job containing the East-leading Penguins, with exception to their two nonempty net goals.
Buffalo will be back in action tomorrow night as they host the high-flying Washington Capitals for a 7:30 pm puck drop at First Niagara Center.