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Wednesday, 24 November 2010 10:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Sabres.

When and where: 7 p.m., HSBC Arena.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, MSG Plus.

Record: 8-11-3, 19 points. The Sabres are in 12th place in the Eastern Conference and last place in the Northeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Derek Roy, 23 points (9 goals, 14 assists).

Last Game: 2-1 home loss to the Lightning, Saturday. Patrick Lalime made 20 saves for the Sabres.

Last Game against the Penguins: 3-2 road loss, March 2. Ruslan Fedotenko had a goal and an assist for the Penguins

Sabres Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Thomas Vanek. He has a seven-game scoring streak coming into this game.

Ex-Penguins on the Sabres: Patrick Lalime, G; Jordan Leopold (above), D.

Ex-Sabres on the Penguins: Jason Botterill, assistant general manager; Andre Savard, professional scout.

Useless Sabres Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The Sabres are celebrating their 40th anniversary this season. Their first game was a 2-1 season-opening win against the Penguins at the Civic Arena. Rookie forward Gilbert Perreault banks a slap shot off the board and off the back of Penguins goaltender Les Binkley and into the net for the game-winning goal at the 11:26 mark of the third period.

Best Sabres Video We Could Find: Former Sabres forward Matthew Barnaby apparently faking an injury then beating up Flyers goaltender Garth Snow late in the 1995-96 season:

Probable goaltenders: Brent Johnson (6-2-1, 2.11 GAA, .927 SV%) for the Penguins and Patrick Lalime (0-4-0, 3.03 GAA, .891 SV%) for the Sabres.

Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Jordan Staal (foot) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Sabres, forward Jochen Hecht ("upper body) is probable. Goaltender Ryan Miller (groin) is doubtful. Forward Tim Connolly (groin) is doubtful. Forwards Rob Niedermayer (knee) and Drew Stafford ("upper body") are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings:

-The Penguins did not practice with a full crew yesterday. Their primary lines and defensive pairings against the Panthers Monday were:

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Maxime Talbot - Evgeni Malkin
Chris Conner - Mark Letestu - Tyler Kennedy
Eric Godard - Craig Adams - Arron Asham

Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Ben Lovejoy 

(Given that the team is on its "dads trip," you can totally expect to see a few changes with these.)

-The Sabres' primary lines and defensive pairings in practice yesterday were:

Tyler Ennis - Derek Roy - Tomas Vanek
Nathan Gerbe - Jochen Hecht - Jason Pominville
Colin Stuart - Paul Gaustad - Mike Grier
Cody McCormick - Luke Adam - Patrick Kaleta

Andrej Sekera - Tyler Myers
Jordan Leopold - Steve Montador
Craig Rivet - Shaone Morrisonn

Notes:

-Mark Letestu has not scored a goal in 15 consecutive games.

-Malkin and Kunitz did not practice yesterday and were granted "maintenance days."

-Crosby has 198 career goals.

-Dupuis has 249 career points.

-Letang has 98 career points.

-Talbot has 48 career goals.

-Forward Mike Comrie has 197 career assists.

-The Penguins have an all-time record of 6-3-0 on "dads trip" games.

-Leopold is producing some serious numbers for the Sabres. Fire Ray Shero.

-Sabres coach Lindy Ruff went all Herb Brooks on his team in practice yesterday.

-Ryan Miller isn't even expected to dress tonight. As a result, the Sabres will probably recall goaltender Jhonas Enroth from Portland of the AHL.

-Stuart is expected to play in his first NHL game since April 1, 2009.

-Pominville (right) has appeared in 399 career games.

-Apparently, there was a rumor going around Buffalo that Connolly and Roy got into a fight at a charity event over the weekend. Didn't happen.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 7 p.m. Please tune in. 

(Photo: Leopold-Bruce Bennett/Getty Images; Pominville-Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

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