The Sabres reverted to their discouraging habit of surrendering leads in a 5-2 loss against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night at KeyBank Center. Giving up goals 27 seconds apart to go from leading to trailing early in the second period,

The Penguins snapped a three-game losing streak, improving to 19-20-8. The Sabres, now 17-23-5, will look to address their defensive and penalty-kill issues. Earlier this season they lost 11 straight games and have lost five of their last eight games.

The Sabres are still in last place in the Eastern Conference and currently sit nine points out of a playoff spot.

Absent some long winning streak, the Sabres are toast. There have been 77 winning streaks in the NHL of at least five games since the last time the Sabres won even four in a row in January 2023.

The Sabres survived despite becoming the first team in NHL shot tracking history (to 1965) to score a goal in a 20-minute period without a shot on goal.

On Friday, the Sabres weren’t drastically outplayed by the Penguins. Buffalo finished with a 42-19 advantage in shots. The Sabres had 63 percent of the expected goals at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick.

A rough second period, with six penalty minutes and three goals allowed, sank the Buffalo Sabres as they lost 5-2 to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday at KeyBank Center. Buffalo began the middle frame with a 1-0 lead,

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff swapped Ryan McLeod and Dylan Cozens atop the lineup during the win over the Hurricanes, a move that paid immediate dividends with both players scoring goals on their new lines.

The Buffalo Sabres are among the teams in the NHL with the longest active postseason droughts. See which other teams make the list.

Practicing Thursday at KeyBank Center, the Buffalo Sabres once again focused on late-game, 6-on-5 situations. In Wednesday’s 4-2 win over Carolina, Buffalo yielded a 6-on-5 goal to Martin Necas before Ryan McLeod’s awarded, empty-net goal secured the victory.

The Sabres haven’t found the right partner for Power since he was drafted first overall in 2021 and arrived in the NHL in March 2022.

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