PITTSBURGH -- On a night in which the Penguins welcomed back the reigning MVP, they lost yet another top player to injury. This time they couldn�t overcome it.
The Penguins saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end with a 4-2 loss to Buffalo on Tuesday in a game pockmarked by an injury to Brooks Orpik.
The veteran defenseman, who leads the Penguins in both hits and blocks, played just 6:44 in the first period, forcing Pittsburgh to play the final 40 minutes with just five defenseman just 24 hours after a win at Ottawa.
Orpik, who is being further evaluated with a lower body injury, would join a list of injured stars that already includes Sidney Crosby, James Neal and Paul Martin.
On Tuesday, Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup after missing the previous four games with a shoulder injury.
After Jarome Iginla�s power play goal evened the score at 2-2 at 11:02 of the third, Buffalo�s Steve Ott was credited with the game-winner at 17:26 when he batted a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury. The goal was upheld by a lengthy video review but that was of little solace to Fleury.
Thomas Vanek scored a pair of goals, including one into an empty net, and Jochen Hecht tallied for Buffalo, which also ended the Penguins' 15-game winning streak earlier this month. Iginla and Chris Kunitz scored for the Penguins, who failed to become the first team in NHL history to win 23 games in a 25-game span.
-- A number of injured Penguins returned to action. C Evgeni Malkin, who hasn�t played since April 11 with an upper-body injury, centered Jarome Iginla and Pascal Dupuis on the team�s top line. D Kris Letang, who missed the previous game with food poisoning, skated alongside D Brooks Orpik, while RW Beau Bennett got over an upper-body injury and skated with LW Brenden Morrow and C Jussi Jokinen. G Marc-Andre Fleury, who wasn�t with the team in Ottawa for their 3-1 victory over the Senators on Monday night as he awaited the birth if his first child, started in goal. The Penguins have lost 69 man-games to injury this season.
-- C Sidney Crosby, RW James Neal and D Paul Martin skated before the team�s practice on Tuesday morning. Martin went on to participate fully in practice and could return for one of the final two remaining regular-season games. Neal is likely to return to full team practice any day. There is no timetable for Crosby�s return.
-- The Penguins are now 9-4 in their last 13 against the Sabres and are 8-4 in their last 12 against them on home ice.
-- The Penguins concluded their final set of back-to-back games, going 9-5. They went 5-2 in the first night and 4-3 the second.
-- The Penguins are 22-3 in their last 25 games and 14-2 in their last 16 games on home ice. The only team to beat the Penguins on home ice during that span is Buffalo.
-- The Penguins scored twice to improve their league-leading goal-scoring total to 152. Washington ranks second with 147. The Penguins power play is 9 of 30 (30 percent) in their last six games after going 1 for 3 Tuesday.
-- The Penguins have now scored a league-leading 51 first-period goals after Chris Kunitz� goal against the Sabres. Philadelphia ranks second with 48.
-- RW Jarome Iginla extended his scoring streak to four games. He has six points (two goals) over that span. Iginla also fired a game-high eight shots on goal.
-- Fleury saw his four-game winning streak come to a halt. He had not lost on home ice since Jan. 29 versus the Islanders.
-- Malkin pushed his scoring streak against the Sabres to six games with his third-period assist. He has collected 11 points (four goals) over that span. He also won 61 percent of the draws he took.
-- Dan Bylsma became the fastest coach to reach 200 victories in NHL history with the victory in Ottawa on Monday night. Bylsma hit the mark in 316 games, passing current Ducks head coach Bruce Bourdreau, who needed 326 to reach the milestone.
-- G Tomas Vokoun became the 28th goaltender in NHL history to win 300 games on Monday night in Ottawa.
-- The Penguins extended their sellout streak to 277 with 18,630 in attendance.
Penguins� D Matt Niskanen on the Sabres� Steve Ott�s game-winning goal.
38: Total number of goals allowed by the Penguins over their last 21 games. During this stretch they have a 1.81 goals-against average.
With the game tied at 2-2, the Penguins collectively lost control of a puck just inside their zone. Sabres� D Mark Pysyk collected the bouncing puck and threw it towards the net. G Marc-Andre Fleury made the save, but lost control of the puck, and it caromed off him into the air in the slot. Sabres C Steve Ott crashed the net and batted the puck into the Penguins� goal. The referee immediately signaled a good goal. The play was reviewed, but there wasn�t conclusive video evidence to overturn the goal. �I thought it was going to have to be a pretty drastic (video replay) view to overturn it,� coach Dan Bylsma said.