The Penguins will tell you that this is a different year. A different series. A different opponent.
That any similarities between their second-round playoff series against Buffalo and the one they played against Philadelphia in Round 2 a year ago are purely coincidental.
And perhaps they are correct.
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Buffalo's Stu Barnes celebrates with teammate J. P. Dumont after beating the Penguins' Johan Hedberg to break a 2-2 tie in the third period. Buffalo went on to beat the Penguins, 5-2. (Matt Freed, Post-Gazette) |
Or perhaps they simply don't want to consider the possibility that they are in the process of reliving one of the most bitter playoff losses in franchise history.
Buffalo's 5-2 victory at Mellon Arena last night evened the series, 2-2, which means that, at first blush, neither team has a pronounced advantage.
The Sabres, however, ran off two consecutive victories after losing Games 1 and 2 at home and will enter Game 5 Saturday at HSBC Arena with even more momentum than the Penguins carried off the Niagara Frontier a week ago.
"We blew a great chance to take command of this series," defenseman Bob Boughner said.
That was pretty much the case against the Flyers last year, although Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis pointed out a significant -- and disturbing -- difference.
"[Against] Philly, we competed," he said. "We lost [Games 3 and 4] in overtime. The last two games, we just lost because we didn't play good."
The Penguins reached a surprising low in Game 3, then played to that level -- or below it -- again last night.
They generated next to nothing offensively -- seven of their 17 shots came during a two-minute span midway through the first period -- and were outnumbered in the defensive zone with alarming frequency.
"They had a great game plan, to come in here and get some offense going," center Mario Lemieux said. "I think they've figured out the left-wing lock. I think we'll have to throw that one away and come up with a new [defensive scheme]."
If there are any positives for the Penguins in Game 4 -- or in the past four or five periods, for that matter -- it will take a frame-by-frame review of the game tapes to find them.
"We just got our butts kicked by playing a bad style of hockey," defenseman Andrew Ference said.
Boughner said, "We can't seem to put 60 [good minutes] together now." They had trouble putting together 60 good seconds for much of Game 4, especially during the final two periods.
"They did a lot of things to expose our system breakdowns," Ference said. "We obviously gave them those opportunities, and they took them.
"They made our mistakes very glaring. They made them show. We didn't get away with anything. Every mistake we made, we didn't get away with."
Left winger Kevin Stevens said after the game that he remains confident because, "I think we're the better team," but the Penguins certainly didn't look the part, particularly in the third period.
The score was tied, 2-2, after 40 minutes, but Buffalo got three goals in the third. The Penguins would have had to put every shot they threw at Sabres goalie Dominik Hasek into the net to force overtime.
"We're known to be a team that has a knack for scoring, finding the net and playing well in the other team's end," Boughner said. "And we're not [doing it]. ... Offensively, we have to get going."
The Penguins got one of their top offensive players, right winger Jaromir Jagr, back last night after he sat out the previous two games with a bad shoulder. Jagr said he used pain pills, not an injection, to address the pain in his shoulder, and reported no problems after the game.
"Probably the worst thing, the pills made me tired, made me sleepy," he said.
Chances are watching the game tapes will do that, too.
Jagr was credited with one shot on goal. Not much by his standards, but above the team average. The Penguins' 18 skaters combined for 17.
Their greatest offensive frustration came at 8:07 of the third period, when Hasek stopped Martin Straka on a penalty shot.
Straka had room high in the net, but was unable to lift his backhander over Hasek's pads.
"I tried to shoot low, but I didn't see anything there." Straka said. "He had it all covered. I changed my mind and tried to go to the backhand. If I get it up, it's in."
Hasek again got the better of Penguins goalie Johan Hedberg, who had allowed virtually no soft goals since joining the Penguins in mid-March, but gave one up at 1:28 of first period last night.
Sabres winger Jean-Pierre Dumont scored it when he banked a shot off Hedberg and into the net from along the goal line to the right of the crease.
"That's a bad goal," Hedberg said. "It's a very cheap goal. It shouldn't happen."
Straka countered for the Penguins during a power play at 11:10, but Curtis Brown put Buffalo back in front with a short-handed goal -- courtesy of an Alexei Kovalev giveaway -- at 19:13.
Janne Laukkanen tied the score, 2-2, at 5:24 of the second, but the Penguins could get no more.
Stu Barnes picked up what proved to be the winner at 4:44 of the third, when he punched in a Donald Audette rebound, and Vladimir Tsyplakov converted a Vaclav Varada rebound at 14:24 for a little insurance.
Barnes closed out the scoring at 18:09, pretty much just for the fun of it.
And so the Sabres rejoiced, while the Penguins could do little more than try to regroup.
"Your confidence is obviously going to be hurt a little after losing two at home, but maybe it's a good thing," Ference said. "Maybe it will straighten us out."
And maybe it will remind them of what they went through in another series just a year ago.
Penguins fall to Buffalo 5-2 as Sabres bring series to a tie 
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