Penguins edge Sabres, keep heat on for Metro lead

BUFFALO, N.Y. — On the night the Penguins clinched a playoff spot for the 11th straight season, both the beauty and ugliness of pro hockey were on display in Buffalo.

The playoff spot was clinched when Nick Bonino scored a tie-breaking goal late in the third period, leading the Penguins to a 3-1 victory over the Sabres.

The beauty came on a first-period goal by Sidney Crosby that will be included on even the short version of his career highlight reel.

The ugliness came on a violent head shot delivered by Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen that left Penguins rookie winger Jake Guentzel with a concussion.

Crosby's jaw-dropping goal broke a scoreless tie late in the first period.

With the Penguins on a power play and the clock ticking down under 20 seconds, Crosby picked up a puck deep in his own zone and took off up the ice. At the blue line, using Justin Schultz as a pick, Crosby split Ryan O'Reilly and Marcus Foligno.

Motoring toward the high slot, he split defensemen Zach Bogosian and Josh Gorges and lifted a backhand shot high into the air over the left shoulder of goalie Robin Lehner.

“It was a goal scorer's goal by an elite player,” coach Mike Sullivan said.

Crosby wasn't available to talk about his goal after the game. He took a high-stick to the mouth from Evander Kane late in the third period that damaged his front teeth.

His teammates weren't at a loss for words, though.

“It's the play that everyone screws around doing in practice, and he does it in games,” Bonino said. “The sea parted for him there. Only 15 seconds left. He turned it on, and that's a huge goal at the end of a period.”

Ristolainen's ugliness knocked Guentzel out of the game in the first period.

Guentzel was leaving the defensive zone, skating with his head down as he looked for a puck that was pinballing behind him, when Ristolainen crushed him.

If the puck had reached Guentzel, perhaps it would have been a clean hit. It didn't come close, though, so it was a vicious head shot that earned Ristolainen an interference major and a game misconduct.

Guentzel wobbled, stumbled and fell to the ice as he tried to get back to the bench.

“I think Jake was just a little bit blindsided,” linemate Conor Sheary said. “It's tough to see him go down like that.”

With Guentzel out, Chris Kunitz took most of the shifts on the left wing with Crosby and Sheary. Guentzel had helped the trio become the Penguins' most productive line by far over the previous eight games.

“It hurts,” Sullivan said. “He's a good player. He's been part of that line which has been very good for us as of late. Hopefully it won't be too long. All (concussions) are different. At least at this point, we're hopeful it won't be an extended period of time, but we'll have to wait and see.”

Despite the injury and a Sam Reinhart goal early in the third period that tied the score 1-1, the Penguins rallied late in the third.

Bonino scored after an Ian Cole pass deflected back to him on the left wing with 5:29 to go.

Two minutes later, Sheary scored when a shot from the left wing off the rush banked in off Buffalo's Zemgus Girgensons.

The 11th straight playoff berth ties a team record for most consecutive trips to the postseason. Now, the Penguins can turn their attention to a Metropolitan Division title. They trail the first-place Capitals by one point and lead the third-place Blue Jackets by the same margin.

“The last couple days, we started hearing about Wash and Columbus (clinching),” Bonino said. “We're happy to clinch. Now it's obviously posturing for that top spot and none of the teams in our division want to lose. It should be fun to watch. It's playoff hockey already.”

Jonathan Bombulie is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at jbombulie@tribweb.com or via Twitter at @BombulieTrib.