Pominville caps comeback as Sabres topple Penguins

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — From spectator to contributor, Sabres forward Drew Stafford quickly put his benching behind him with an impressive response.

Two days after he was banished to watch in the press box as a healthy scratch, Stafford rebounded by scoring twice, including once on a penalty shot, and added an assist to help Buffalo overcome a three-goal deficit in a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday night.

“It comes back to how you respond,” said Stafford, who sat out a 5-3 win at St. Louis on Sunday. “It’s being professional about it, not feeling sorry for yourself. It’s just going back to work. I was very fortunate enough to get some breaks tonight, and it just so happened to be the night after I got sat out. I’ll take it.”

So will the Sabres in a game they looked like they had no business being in after starter Ryan Miller was pulled 22 minutes in, when he allowed his third goal on 11 shots.

Patrick Lalime took over and stopped all 27 shots he faced, and Jason Pominville capped the comeback by scoring a power-play goal with 9:05 left.

“We played well, we came back strong. Good character win,” said Lalime, who was particularly strong in making 18 saves in the second period. “It’s huge. We never let down.”

Paul Gaustad also scored for the Sabres, who hadn’t overcome a three-goal deficit since a 5-4 shootout win at Dallas last Jan. 15.

Jordan Staal, Bill Guerin and Chris Kunitz scored for the Penguins, who squandered a three-goal lead for the first time since a 5-3 loss at Nashville last Jan. 8.

“A three-goal lead and we didn’t put it away. That’s what happens when you let teams hang around,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said.

“We worked pretty hard and probably deserved better.”

The Penguins dropped to 1-3 in their past four games, and blew a chance to move into a tie with New Jersey atop the Eastern Conference standings.

With 53 points, the Penguins are two back of New Jersey as they travel to face their Atlantic Division rival on Wednesday.

Pittsburgh appeared to take command 90 seconds into the second period when Kunitz, set up in the high slot by a smart pass from Crosby, blasted a 50-footer over Miller’s left shoulder.

The goal chased Miller, in a week in which he is expected to be named to U.S. Olympic team.