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Saturday, 17 December 2011 12:11

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Sabres.

When and where: 7 p.m., Consol Energy Center.

TV: Root Sports, MSG-Buffalo.

Record: 16-12-3, 35 points. The Sabres are in sixth place of the Eastern Conference and second place in the Northeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Jason Pominville, 34 points (10 goals, 24 assists).

Last Game: 5-4 home win against the Maple Leafs, last night. Thomas Vanek had two goals and two assists for the Sabres.

Last Game against the Sabres: 3-2 road win, Oct. 15. Marc-Andre Fleury made 25 saves for the Penguins.

Sabres Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Pominville. He has a five-game scoring streak.

Ex-Penguins on the Sabres: 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' leader in goaltending wins the franchise' inagural season of 1970-71 was former Penguin Joe Daley with 12.

Best Sabres Video We Could Find: Former Penguins and Sabres goaltender Tom Barrasso showing off his puck handling skills in a local Nissan dealership commercial:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (15-7-2, 2.28 GAA, .916 SV%) for the Penguins. The Sabres have not indicated if they will start Jhonas Enroth (8-6-1, 2.43 GAA, .922 SV%) or Ryan Miller (8-6-2, 2.89 GAA, .910 SV%) for the Sabres.

Injuries: For the Penguins, centers Jordan Staal ("lower body"), Joe Vitale (undisclosed) and defenseman Paul Martin ("lower body") are questionable. Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo (head) and center Sidney Crosby (head) are out. Defensemen Kris Letang (head), Ben Lovejoy (left wrist), Zbynek Michalek (head), Brian Strait (elbow), center Dustin Jeffrey (knee) and right winger Richard Park (foot) are on injured reserve. For the Sabres, left winger Jochen Hecht ("lower body") and right winger Corey Tropp ("upper body") are day to day. Right wingers Brad Boyes ("lower body"), Patrick Kaleta ("lower body"), left wingers Nathan Gerbe ("upper body"), Ville Leino ("lower body") and defenseman Tyler Myers (wrist) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines against the Senators last night were:

The Sabres' primary lines and defensive pairings against the Maple Leafs last night were:

Thomas Vanek - Paul Szczechura - Jason Pominville
Tyler Ennis - Derek Roy - Drew Stafford
Luke Adam - Paul Gaustad - Zack Kassian
Cody McCormick - Matt Ellis - Marc-Andre Gragnani-*

Robyn Regehr - Andrej Sekera
Christian Ehrhoff - Jordan Leopold
Brayden McNabb - Mike Weber

*-Gragnani is a defenseman who was used in a forward position last night. This morning, head coach Lindy Ruff suggested he would insert left winger Colin Stuart into the lineup in place of a defenseman.

Notes:

-Dupuis has 299 career points.

-Orpik has 99 career points.

-Fleury has 199 career wins.

-Martin has 197 career points.

-Picard has 47 career assists.

-Sullivan has 699 career points.

-Niskanen has 96 career points.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)

Comments (1)

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written by bastage42, December 17, 2011 - 12:45 PM

Apparently the odds-makers in Las Vegas has the over/under for number of injuries as a result of this game at 8.

Hopefully Martin and Despres (injury, potential disciplinary action) can both play. Pretty soon we'll just have to put road pylons out there on D. I can't imagine how WBS could manage with the roster drainage.

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