Fleury, Penguins blank Sabres

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves for his second consecutive shutout and Chris Kunitz scored twice and the Pittsburgh Penguins earned their fourth win in a row with a 5-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night.

Fleury, coming off a 3-0 win over the defending champion Los Angeles Kings, earned his third shutout in four games and 31st of his career. He has held opponents without a goal in 10 of his past 12 periods.

Kunitz also had two goals in the win over the Kings and has seven goals on the season.

Evgeni Malkin, Patric Hornqvist and Blake Comeau also scored for Pittsburgh and Sidney Crosby had three assists.

Malkin also had two assists and extended his point streak to 10 games.

Crosby has a point in 18 straight games against Buffalo, his longest active against any team.

The Penguins finished 3 for 5 on the power play. It was the fourth straight game and seventh time in 10 games that Pittsburgh’s power play scored multiple goals. Pittsburgh is 10 for 21 on the power play during its four-game winning streak.

The Penguins defeated the Sabres for the 13th time in 17 games, picking up their eighth win in the past 11 played in Pittsburgh.

Jhonas Enroth had 29 saves for the Sabres, who were shut out for the fifth time in 12 games this season.

Buffalo entered the game with 12 non-shootout goals in 11 games.

Buffalo is 2-9-1 and has the second-fewest points in the Eastern Conference.

Kunitz opened the scoring at 4:26 of the first, crashing the net to backhand a rebound from the slot past a sprawled Enroth.

The Penguins controlled long stretches of the first period, owning a 12-3 advantage in shots. The Sabres went more than 13 minutes at one point without a shot.