Staal scores twice in Penguins’ win

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Jordan Staal had two goals, including the tiebreaker late in the third period, and the Pittsburgh Penguins scored four third-period goals to rally for their sixth straight victory, 5-2 over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

Ruslan Fedotenko, Alex Goligoski and Evgeni Malkin also scored to help Pittsburgh win for the sixth time this season when trailing after two periods.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 21 saves for the Penguins.

Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville scored for Buffalo, The Sabres lost for the second straight night after falling 6-1 at home to Columbus.

With the score tied at 2, Staal beat Ryan Miller with just over 4 minutes left in the third period. Fedotenko’s goal made it 4-2, and Staal finished off the scoring with an empty-netter.

Thomas Vanek’s power-play goal, his team-leading 13th of the season, gave Buffalo a 2-1 lead with 46 seconds left in the second period. Pittsburgh tied it on Goligoski’s power-play goal 11:43 into the third period.

The Penguins, who have scored 32 goals during their winning streak, struggled on offense at the start and recorded only six shots on goal in the first period.

Their first goal came from Malkin, who tied it at 1, 11:07 into the second period. Malkin’s goal extended his scoring streak to 13 games, the longest active streak in the NHL. Malkin, who also had three assists, has six goals and 21 assists during his streak.

Pominville scored off Andrej Sekera’s rebound to put Buffalo ahead 1-0 8:14 into the first period. Pominville, who had Buffalo’s only goal in its loss to Columbus, has scored in three consecutive games, and has a four-game scoring streak overall.

Notebook

Pittsburgh faced an opponent who played the night before for the seventh time in 17 games this season. The Penguins are 3-2-2 in those seven games.