NHL Sabres halt Penguins' late rally for 4-3 win

The loss was Pittsburgh's 10 in 11 games and now has worst mark in division.
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) -- Martin Biron made 30 saves in winning his 13th straight start and the Buffalo Sabres withstood Pittsburgh's late rally to beat the Penguins 4-3 Saturday night.
Maxim Afinogenov had a goal and two assists for the Sabres, who have won six straight and 10 of 11 -- the only loss coming against San Jose on Dec. 2. They are 14-1-1 since a Nov. 12 home loss against Ottawa.
It was 10th loss in 11 games for the Penguins, whose 8-18-7 record is the worst in the Eastern Conference. Buffalo swept the home-and-home series that started Friday night in Pittsburgh with a 4-3 overtime victory.
Lemieux misses game
The Penguins played without owner-captain Mario Lemieux, who had a recurrence of his irregular heartbeat and stayed home. Lemieux played Friday after sitting out four games with the same problem.
Biron became the first NHL goalie in nearly a decade to win 13 consecutive starts. His streak is the NHL's longest since Detroit's Chris Osgood won the same number in the 1995-96 season, and it wasn't easy.
With Pittsburgh goalie Jocelyn Thibault off for an extra attacker, Biron stopped Tomas Surovy from point-blank range with 29.6 seconds left. Surovy took a cross-ice feed from Ryan Whitney, and Biron smothered the puck at the goal line.
Chris Drury, Adam Mair and Jason Pominville also scored for Buffalo.
Sidney Crosby, Michel Ouellet and Surovy had Pittsburgh's goals.
The Penguins trailed 4-1 entering the third period, but Ouellet scored his second of the season just 24 seconds in, and Surovy pulled the Pens within a goal at 9:43. Surovy outfought Teppo Numminen and Brian Campbell in front and beat Biron with a backhander for his first goal.
Mair gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead just 3:32 into the game with just his second of the season. He one-timed a pass from Afinogenov just inside the post on the short side past Thibault on Buffalo's second shot.
Afinogenov made it 2-0 just over three minutes later. He skated around Pittsburgh defenseman Sergei Gonchar, then unleashed a rising shot that glanced off the left shoulder of Thibault and went in.
Absence felt
Lemieux's absence was felt. The Penguins created few good scoring chances over the first two periods, and when they did Biron was usually there.
Crosby cut the lead to 2-1 midway through the first with a great effort. He picked up a loose puck near center ice, deked past defenseman Jay McKee in the left circle and beat Biron with a quick wrist shot.
Pominville made it 3-1 on a power-play goal with less than 2 minutes left in the period.
Drury, who has eight goals and eight assists in 16 games, gave Buffalo a three-goal lead when his shot glanced off the right skate of defenseman Josef Melichar near the crease and flew past Thibault on a power play at 15:34 of the second.
He also scored in overtime on Friday to beat the Penguins.