Greece native Brian Gionta scores a power play goal for Buffalo.
By Wes Crosby / NHL.com Correspondent
PITTSBURGH, PA. — Jake Guentzel and Conor Sheary scored late in the third period, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 28 saves in relief to help the Pittsburgh Penguins rally past the Buffalo Sabres 4-3 at PPG Paints Arena on Sunday.
After Sheary shot off Zach Bogosian, Guentzel raised his stick to deflect it past Anders Nilsson to tie it 3-3 with 3:46 remaining. After review, it was ruled Guentzel kept his stick below the crossbar.
Sheary gave the Penguins a 4-3 lead by shooting into an open left side of Buffalo’s net with 2:56 left to complete the three-goal comeback.
Pittsburgh (40-16-8) has won its past two games after losing its previous two.
Buffalo (27-27-12, 66 points) is five points behind the New York Islanders for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference.
Ryan O’Reilly, Brian Gionta and Jack Eichel each scored in the first period to give the Sabres a 3-0 lead.
O’Reilly scored after Evander Kane intercepted a pass from Brian Dumoulin up the near wall. Kane passed to Gionta, who set up O’Reilly’s wrist shot under the crossbar that gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead 6:19 into the first.
After Mark Streit nearly tied it 1-1 with 7:15 remaining in the first, Gionta extended the Sabres’ lead to 2-0 on a power-play goal with 5:07 left and Eichel made it 3-0 with his 16th goal of the season with 1:53 remaining.
Fleury replaced Matt Murray in goal to start the second period. Murray made 18 saves on 21 shots.
Nilsson made 41 saves for Buffalo.
Justin Schultz cut it to 3-1 at 7:45 of the second period before he set up Evgeni Malkin for a power-play goal that made it 3-2 with 6:18 remaining in the period.