The Penguins headed into Saturday night’s contest against the Buffalo Sabres having lost their last two games and four of their last five, but they rebounded in a big way, as Evgeni Malkin had a hat trick and the Pens piled in the goals in an 8-3 win.
The scored three goals in the first half of the first period, with Jason Williams, Simon Despres and Malkin all chipping in. It was Williams’ first goal of the season, and Despres’ goal was the first of the promising young defenseman’s career. After a Sabres goal by Thomas Vanek, Malkin scored his second goal of the game.
The Pens had a brief power play to start the second period, and James Neal scored his 18th goal of the season in its waning seconds. Then Deryk Engelland added another goal at the end of the period to make it 6-1.
Luke Adam and Paul Gaustad scored in the third period for the Sabres, while Malkin put in a power-play goal and Chris Kunitz added a goal of his own.
The Penguins face the Chicago Blackhawks at home on Tuesday.
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