Crosby, Malkin lead Penguins past Sabres 6-5 in OT to cap milestone night

By Associated Press

October 16, 2024 Last Updated: October 16, 2024 10:29 PM

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) celebrates his game-winning goal in overtime with Evgeni Malkin during an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby scored a power-play goal at 1:38 of overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins rallied to beat the Buffalo Sabres 6-5 on Wednesday night.

Evgeni Malkin became the 48th player in NHL history to score 500 career goals and Crosby became the 10th player in NHL history to reach 1,600 regular-season points in a career. Crosby, from behind the net, sent a between-the-legs pass in front to Malkin, who was sitting on the ice when he scored his goal.

Crosby reached the milestone when he recorded the secondary assist on Bryan Rust’s power-play goal at 11:01 of the first period. Rust scored his second goal with 46 seconds left to force overtime. Drew O’Connor scored a short-handed goal and Jesse Puljujarvi added his second of the season.

Tristan Jarry allowed three goals on five shots in the first period before he was pulled. Joel Blomqvist came on and finished with 26 saves.

J.J. Peterka, back after missing the last two games with a concussion, scored twice for Buffalo. Ryan McLeod, Tage Thompson and Jordan Greenway also scored for the Sabres and Alex Tuch had two assists. Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 36 shots.

Takeaways

Sabres: The Sabres nearly won consecutive games for the first time this season. Buffalo lost its first three by a combined 10-3 margin, but were unable to protect leads of 3-1 and 5-4.

Penguins: Pittsburgh won consecutive games for the first time this season.

Key moment

Rust tapped in a loose rebound from the top of the crease with 46 seconds left in regulation to tie the score.

Key Stat

The Penguins are 399-90-47 when Crosby and Malkin record a point.

Up Next

Sabres continue a three-game road trip at Columbus on Thursday, and Penguins host Carolina on Friday before a four-game road trip.

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) celebrates his game-winning goal in overtime with Evgeni Malkin (71) and Erik Karlsson (65) during an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Jesse Puljujarvi (18) backhands a shot past Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen for a goal during the second period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Jesse Puljujarvi, right, celebrates his goal with Jack St. Ivany (3) during the second period of an NHL hockey game against the Buffalo Sabres in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Sidney Crosby (87) gets a shot behind Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen (1) for the game-winning goal in overtime during an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene Puskar)

Buffalo Sabres' Jordan Greenway (12) returns to the bench after scoring during the first period of an NHL hockey game against the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Buffalo Sabres' JJ Peterka, right, gets a shot behind Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry for a goal during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Pittsburgh Penguins' Bryan Rust (17) can't get his stick on a rebound off Buffalo Sabres goaltender Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen with Rasmus Dahlin (26) defending during the first period of an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)