PITTSBURGH — Jared McCann scored a pair of power-play goals, Casey DeSmith made 36 saves and the Pittsburgh Penguins extended Buffalo’s winless streak to 16 straight with a 4-0 victory on Thursday night.

Radim Zohorna picked up a goal on his first shot in the NHL for the Penguins. Jake Guentzel added an empty-netter and Sidney Crosby had three assists to raise his career point total to 1,300 as Pittsburgh swept a pair from the NHL’s worst team with relative ease.

Buffalo’s bizarre season took another strange turn when general manager Kevyn Adams found himself on the bench serving as head coach after interim Don Granato and assistant Matt Ellis were placed in the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol a few hours before the opening faceoff.

What he saw up close looked an awful lot like what he’s seen from afar over the last two-plus months. The Sabres are an injury-riddles mess. Buffalo has now been shut out more times (seven) than it has wins (six).

Even fleeting moments of success don’t last. Victor Olofsson appeared to put the Sabres on the board with 5:57 to play only to have it overturned on replay when winger Jeff Skinner was ruled offside.

Dustin Tokarski played well in his second straight start while filling in for injured Carter Hutton, stopping 27 shots, but the Sabres were held at bay by DeSmith and a defense that prevented few quality chances.