PITTSBURGH (AP) ― Good periods. Bad ones. It didn’t matter much to the Pittsburgh Penguins during their perfect 15-game run through March. In the end, they always found a way.

April might be a little tougher, particularly without star Sidney Crosby.

Outplayed on both ends of the ice for long stretches by rebuilding Buffalo, Pittsburgh fell 4-1 on Tuesday night to lose for the first time in more than a month.

“We just didn’t have much of an answer,” defenseman Matt Niskanen said.

“Things weren’t going well from the start and we didn’t have a whole lot of a pushback or a whole lot of urgency.”

Pittsburgh was attempting to move within one of the NHL record of 17 consecutive wins set by the 1992-93 Penguins, but looked out of sync without their captain. The Sabres jumped on Pittsburgh early and never really let up to end a four-game winless streak.

Kevin Porter scored his first two goals in more than a year for the Sabres.

Boston 3, Ottawa 2

NY Islanders 5, Winnipeg 2

Washington 5, Carolina 3

Florida 3, Tampa Bay 2

Nashville 3, Colorado 1

Phoenix 3, Los Angeles 1