Penguins Buffalo the Sabres, 5-2, After Another Third Period Comeback

Last year, in 82 games, the Penguins came back to win a game after being down going into the third period 6 times in 26 tries -- a pretty good percentage under the circumstances.

This year, they have already won 6 games after trailing going into the 3rd period. 6 out of 9 to be precise. That's a better percentage than most teams win in regulation time.

Last night's 5-2 win over the Sabres was the latest entry on that list.

The Penguins trailed 2-1 going into the 3rd, having only a power play goal by center Evgeni Malkin to show for their work.

With approximately 8 minutes to go in regulation, the Penguins broke through.

They tied the game on another power play goal, this time by Alex Goligoski who broke in from the back-door point and took a cross-ice pass from Sidney Crosby a-la Ryan Whitney and buried it behind Sabres' goaltender Ryan Miller to tie the game.

The Penguins third line allowed them to take their first lead of the game a few minutes later when Matt Cooke made a beautiful centering pass from behind the net right onto the tape of center Jordan Staal. Staal buried it from the slot low on the far side past Miller.

With a little over two minutes to go, the Penguins iced the game when they broke in on a 3-on-2, and Malkin found the trailer, Ruslan Fedotenko, who buried it by Miller.

Staal added an empty netter -- his 7th goal in the last 7 games -- to end the game 5-2.

With the win, the Penguins raised their record to 11-4-2, good for 24 points. They've won 6 games in a row. They also now have scored more goals than any other team in the Eastern Conference, and only 2 other teams in the league -- Detroit and San Jose.

So much for them losing firepower in the offseason.

F-Hossa.

The Penguins are getting contributions from up and down their lineup now. Staal and Kennedy both have 7 goals. Cooke is starting to contribute more offensively. Even Letang and Goligoski are showing their stuff more.

Malkin figured in on 4 of the 5 Penguin tallies (1 G, 3 A) to take over the NHL scoring lead with 30 points and extend his scoring streak to 13 games. He's had at least 1 assist in each of those contests and, with one more game, will tie Mario Lemieux's club record for consecutive games with an assist.

The Penguins are off again until Tuesday when they'll look to make it 7 in a row against the Minnesota Wild. Minnesota is a good club, and will test the Penguins. It will be a challenge to put up as many goals against them as they have been scoring recently.

Go Pens ....