NHL Penguins register second win in row

Konstantin Koltsov and Sebastien Caron keyed a 2-1 victory over the Sabres.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The bringing-up-the-rear Pittsburgh Penguins are enjoying only their second winning streak this season. So, naturally, they're talking playoffs.
Maybe it's wishful thinking for what may be the NHL's least-talented team but, hey, let them dream. They haven't enjoyed many two-game winning streaks the last couple of seasons, especially with star Mario Lemieux injured.
Konstantin Koltsov scored the winning goal early in the third period and Sebastien Caron made a key save in the closing seconds, carrying the Penguins past the slumping Buffalo Sabres 2-1 Tuesday night.
Koltsov had scored on only two of 49 shots before taking Tomas Surovy's pass while skating across the Sabres' blue line and beating Mika Noronen on a backhanded shot.
Fastest skater
Koltsov is the Penguins' fastest skater, and coach Eddie Olczyk said, "Getting Koltsov the puck in flight, when he gets a step on you, you're not going to catch him."
The Penguins won their second straight at home since coming off an 0-4-0-1 road trip, only the second time this season they've won consecutive games. They've yet to win three in a row.
"I said at the end of that trip, I really thought we had done a lot of good things against a lot of good teams and only had one point to show for it," Olczyk said.
The Penguins have since gotten four points against two teams hovering near the bottom of the NHL's overall standings with them, Buffalo and Columbus. Buffalo dropped its sixth in a row and seventh in eight games and has scored only nine goals in six games.
The Sabres took a 1-0 lead on Miroslav Satan's goal in the first period, but Caron turned aside their other 21 shots during a game filled with long stretches of inaction.
"We did some good things," Caron said. "We got the puck down low and we didn't make mistakes. I don't care what people say about us, we played solid and we think we're going to make the playoffs."
Trail by 22 points
They might want to stretch that two-game streak into a 12-game run if they hope to do that; they already trail Philadelphia by 22 points in the Atlantic Division race. That's as many points as the Penguins have earned in 30 games.
Caron's best save came in the closing seconds when, out of position at the side of the net, he stuck out a leg and arm to turn aside Curtis Brown's shot off Alexei Zhitnik's rebound.
"I didn't have time to think. I was trying to get it up over him because I knew he was down," Brown said. "He stretched out with his hands ... it was a pretty good save. Somehow he recovered and kept it from going in."