PITTSBURGH -- The Pittsburgh Penguins are still determined to finish as the NHLs best team -- despite a recent slump. The Penguins rebounded from a loss on Saturday and beat the leagues worst team on Monday night as goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots for his fourth shutout, a 3-0 win against the Buffalo Sabres. "When you play 82 every one isnt going to be perfect, but were trying to be the best, not just into late June, but every game," Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma said. Chris Kunitz scored his 26th goal and Deryk Engelland netted his fourth, equaling a career high. Tanner Glass scored his first goal in 26 games, a late empty-netter that sealed it for the Penguins, who won for the 15th time in 16 games at home. Sidney Crosby, who leads the NHL with 74 points, added two assists to extend his points streak in games against Buffalo to 16 games, matching his longest streak against any team. Fleury, who leads the NHL with 29 wins, registered his 27th career shutout, tied for second in the league. He helped preserve the win, denying Buffalos Brian Flynn two minutes into the third period before following it up with a right-pad stop on Matt Moulson on a partial breakaway a couple minutes later. "The first one was pretty close, and I was worried he might have cut across, so I tried to take his options away," said Fleury, who is one victory away from reaching the 30-win mark for the fifth-straight full NHL season. "Moulson, I was trying to be patient because I know he has good hands," he added. Fleury was better on the play, giving his team a sorely-needed lift after a slow start to the period. "We chipped some pucks out in the beginning of the third period, kind of sitting back, and they shoved it right back at us," Bylsma said. "Marc got stuck with those two glorious chances against. the two great saves he had to make." The Penguins are in command of the Eastern Conference, leading Boston and Tampa Bay by seven points in addition to a 15-point cushion on the New York Rangers in the Metropolitan Division entering Monday. But Pittsburgh has struggled recently with a lacklustre home effort last Monday against Florida -- 15th in the 16-team Eastern Conference -- and a 3-0 loss Saturday at Dallas. It wasnt perfect, but the Penguins were able to turn it around on Monday. "We still had times when we werent getting pucks deep, turning it over, and giving them chances to get back into the game," Kunitz said. "Our goalie made a few great saves, a few that went through his body, couldve hit somebody and went in the other way." Goaltender Ryan Miller stopped 31 shots for last-place Buffalo, which has lost seven of nine. The Sabres, who scored at least three goals the previous six games, won for the first time five games on Saturday, scoring a 5-2 victory at Columbus and stopping the red-hot Blue Jackets franchise-record eight-game winning streak, but they couldnt sustain the momentum. "Were a team that we cant have glaring mistakes," Sabres coach Ted Nolan said. "Its very demoralizing. We woke up in the third period and made a push, but not good enough." The Penguins, after a scoreless opening period, scored at 14:16 of the second. Brian Gibbons, who missed five games with a lower-body injury, hit the post on a one-timer from Crosby. The red goal light behind the net momentarily turned on before Kunitz swept the rebound into a partially empty net. Engelland scored later in the period, forcing a turnover in the Sabres zone before lifting a pass from Glass over a sprawled Miller. That was good enough for the Penguins, who continue to try and perfect their stride despite leading the Eastern Conference. "We still need to get better as a team and grow," Kunitz said. "We have 30-some games before the playoffs to make sure were running on all cylinders, and make sure were the best team going into the playoffs." NOTES: Penguins F Evgeni Malkin played in his 500th NHL game, becoming the 15th player in team history to reach the milestone. ... The Penguins are 27-2-1, and a perfect 18-0 at home when scoring first. ... Pittsburgh has won 40 of its last 48 home games dating back to last season. ... Chuck Kobasew, who played on Pittsburghs top line the past four games, was a healthy scratch on Monday in addition to Andrew Ebbett and Robert Bortuzzo. Buffalo scratched Drew Stafford, John Scott, and Alexander Sulzer ... Buffalo plays the second half of a back-to-back Tuesday at home against Washington. ... Pittsburgh opens a two-game West Coast swing Thursday at Los Angeles ... The two teams meet for the third and final time this season next Wednesday at Buffalo. Cheap Shoes Black Friday . made a diving catch in left field for the final out in a 1-0 victory over the Miami Marlins in a regular-season finale Sunday. Zimmermann (14-5) allowed only two baserunners, finishing with 10 strikeouts and one walk in the fifth no-hitter in the majors this year. Buy Shoes Black Friday . In a matter of days, he went from unwanted to wanted, from fired to hired, from discarded by the Philadelphia Eagles with reputation tarnished to rock star treatment and a new fat contract from the Washington Redskins. https://www.cheapshoesblackfriday.com/ . -- The Atlanta Braves are facing the possibility of losing another pitcher for the season after general manager Frank Wren said Saturday that Cory Gearrin has a serious injury to his right elbow. Wholesale Shoes Black Friday Free Shipping . Observant Muslims avoid food and liquids from dawn to dusk during Ramadan but can, and often do, skip it if travelling or doing hard physical labour. Some devout Muslim athletes choose to fast during training or competition, but it can create selection difficulties for the coaches in team sports. Wholesale Shoes Black Friday . -- The Chiefs have signed seven players to reserve/future contracts, including running back Joe McKnight, a former fourth-round pick of the New York Jets.Mike Babcock was a man with a plan on Saturday. The Canadian mens Olympic hockey team head coach arranged to take in some mens curling with a bunch of players before shuffling off to the nearby Bolshoy Ice Dome to scout the Russia-United States mens hockey game. Sometime in the evening he planned to assemble goalkeepers Roberto Luongo and Carey Price to inform them who would start in Canadas game against Finland on Sunday. Babcock would not reveal at his noon-hour (local time) press briefing whether it would be Luongo, the incumbent, or Price, who has been more consistent this season and played better in the games leading to the Olympic break. But the Canadian coach did remark that he arrived in Sochi with a plan — and nothing transpired in the wins over Norway and Austria to alter his blueprint. "Ive had lots of time,” he said. “We as a management team, and a coaching staff, we watched the NHL all year and we picked the two goalies that we think have got an opportunity. We brought [Mike Smith] to be in the role [of third goalie] and now well just go from here and watch. “We did the same thing last time. We had a plan. We understand and I said this a number of times you get one change in this tournament and you can still win." Like in Vancouver four years ago. Babcock chose veteran Martin Brodeur to be No. 1, but after he faltered in Canadas third game of the tournament — a 5-3 loss against the United States — Roberto Luongo moved in to win four games in a row to help Canada strike gold. Luongo or Price isnt the only entry on Babcocks checklist. There has been some clamour to find captain Sidney Crosby some new linemates. Chris Kunitz, who plays on the left side with Crosby in Pittsburgh, hasnt exhibited much in his first tour-off-duty with the Canadian Olympic team.dddddddddddd "The first line in the last two games has generated a ton of scoring chances, point-blankers, they havent gone in,” Babcock said. “Do we worry that much about that or do we just know good players score in the end? "Lots of times in the Stanley Cup playoffs your team goes a ways and your best players have no points in the first round. Someone else picks them up, but by the time its all over theyre leading the thing in scoring. Its not about that, its about finding a way to be the best team." Babcock gave his players Saturday off to recharge. The 25 of them already played a combined 1,392 NHL games this season before landing in Sochi. The coaching staff put them through three long practices before the Olympic tournament opener against Austria on Thursday, so they needed a break. “A big part of it was the NHL schedule,” Babcock said. “You can just imagine the amount of meetings with their own NHL teams to prepare for each and every game. I just know from our team it seems like we played every single game. It was exhausting. “Then you travel over here. Then you jam in all the information and then we practiced them hard. We practiced for 56 minutes the day before our first game. That would never happen in the NHL. “Everybody needs to breathe.” Another adjustment has been the late starting times for Canada – 9 p.m. Sochi time. “We tried to turn 9 oclock into 7 oclock over here,” Babcock said. “But its 2:30 in the morning and youre sitting around every night. I saw [Canadian defenceman] Duncan Keith this morning and Dunc said he had to race over to McDonalds to get an egg mcmuffin. So he had to get up early. Priorities, right?” ' ' '