PITTSBURGH — The Buffalo Sabres have had trouble with the Pittsburgh Penguins whether Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin play or not.

That changed Saturday night.

Nathan Gerbe and Luke Adam each had a goal and an assist, backup goalie Jhonas Enroth made 29 saves and Buffalo beat Pittsburgh for the first time in almost two years, 3-2.

“We wanted to win this game bad,” Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. “You get an opportunity to play a team without a couple of their star players, you’ve got to start taking advantage of it.”

Still without Crosby, Pittsburgh played this one without Malkin, too. Crosby, though, took part in the morning skate and is cleared for contact as he continues to recover from a concussion sustained nine months ago. There still is no timetable for a return to game action.

Although Malkin returned with a two-point effort Thursday after missing two games, his surgically repaired right knee was sore again Saturday.

Malkin tore his ACL when Sabres defenseman Tyler Myers hit him Feb. 4. Already without Crosby at that point, the Penguins beat Buffalo that day anyway. And again on March 8 to close out a season series sweep and extend their run against Buffalo to 15-4-1 — including 8-1-1 in the past 10 meetings in Pittsburgh. 200