Oct 27, 2002 2 min read

PITTSBURGH (AP) – Alexandre Daigle scored one goal and set up another as the Pittsburgh Penguins scored four unanswered power-play goals in a 5-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday night. Daigle, back this season after a two-year retirement, scored his first goal since March 3, 2000, at 16:23 of the first period to put the Penguins ahead 2-1.

He set up Michal Rozsival’s power-play goal at 12:08 of the second period to make it 4-1.

The Sabres, who entered as the league’s second-most penalized team, allowed the Penguins six power plays. The surging Pittsburgh power play has scored in seven straight games and is 13-for-42 in that span.

Aleksey Morozov and Alexei Kovalev scored their seventh goals of the season for Pittsburgh and NHL scoring leader Mario Lemieux added two assists to give him 18 points in eight games as the Penguins rebounded from a 7-3 loss in Detroit on Friday.

Buffalo, beginning a six-game road trip, is 1-4-1 since opening the season with two victories.

Adam Mair, acquired in July from Los Angeles, scored his first goal for the Sabres at 8:24 of the opening period when he slid his own rebound past Johan Hedberg for Buffalo’s first shorthanded goal of the season.

The Penguins tied it just 15 seconds later when former Sabres player Wayne Primeau scored his first power-play goal in three seasons by deflecting Janne Laukkanen’s shot from the left point past Martin Biron.

After Daigle deflected Dick Tarnstrom’s shot from the left point past Biron for the lead, the Penguins added two more power-play goals in the second period. Morozov scored on a backhander from the bottom of the left circle at 5:30 to make it 3-1, and Rozsival took Daigle’s pass at the right point and scored on a slap shot for a 4-1 lead.

Kovalev scored for the fifth consecutive game just 43 seconds into the final period when he skated around Rhett Warrener and beat Biron with a wrist shot.