With Pittsburgh captain Sidney Crosby extending his scoring streak to 10 games with an assist on Pascal Dupuis’ goal in Wednesday’s 1-0 victory over the Buffalo Sabres, it’s easy to get caught up in the offensive firepower the Penguins have.



But it’s the defensive effort from every player on the ice that earned them the win.



While they may not have gotten on the scoresheet, Pittsburgh’s blueliners played tremendously without the puck in front of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to help preserve his shutout. To stop a team like Buffalo, who likes to involve all five skaters in their attack, the Penguins defense had to stand tall.



It’s plays like Deryk Engelland recovering after a turnover and Zbynek Michalek blocking shot after shot from his knees that spurred Pittsburgh to the win. In addition, players like Paul Martin and Kris Letang not only played solid in their own end, but they also joined the rush on numerous occasions. Letang fired six shots on goal (tied for the team lead with Evgeni Malkin and Dupuis), while Martin made himself available as a passing option as much as possible.



The Penguins penalty kill, which has now killed off 36 straight opposition power plays on the road, came up huge once again as Pittsburgh stymied two Buffalo man-advantage opportunities at the start of the third period. After a scoreless second period, those kills gave the Penguins a boost to hold onto their lead.

Marc-Andre Fleury

While Marc-Andre Fleury has been playing well as of late, on Wednesday he was absolutely unstoppable, making 30 saves to earn a whitewash of the Sabres. The shutout is his first of the season and the 17th of his career, with his last one coming on March 18, 2010.



After the Penguins jumped to a 1-0 lead with 4:56 remaining in the first, the Penguins netminder came up with huge saves through a relentless Buffalo attack. He made numerous stops through traffic, and to top it all off, Fleury even made two long breakout passes on back-to-back shifts in the second period to keep the game flowing and to jumpstart the Penguins offense. Fleury is now 7-3-2 all-time against the Sabres.