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Sunday, 19 February 2012 11:49

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Sabres.

When and where: 12:30 p.m., EST. First Niagara Center.

TV: NBC. (This game is available on a regional basis. If you can not watch the game in your area, NBC Sports' Web site will offer a stream.)

Record: 24-27-7, 55 points. The Sabres are in 14th place of the Eastern Conference and last place in the Northeast Division.

Leading Scorer: Jason Pominville, 54 points (22 goals, 32 assists).

Last Game: 4-3 home shootout loss to the Canadiens, Friday. Ville Leino recorded two assists for the Sabres.

Last Game against the Penguins: 8-3 road loss, Dec. 17. Evgeni Malkin had a hat trick and two assists for the Penguins.

Sabres Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Nathan Gerbe (above). He had a goal and an assist in his last game against the Penguins.

Ex-Penguins on the Sabres: Jordan Leopold, D.

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

Useless Sabres Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Four former Sabres first-round draft picks have played for the Penguins. They are goaltender Tom Barrasso (1983) defensemen Philippe Boucher (1991), Jay McKee (1995) and center Wayne Primeau (1994).

Best Sabres Video We Could Find: Former Penguins forward Stu Barnes scoring in overtime for the Sabres against the Penguins in Game 5 of the 2001 Eastern Conference final:

Probable goaltenders: Brent Johnson (3-6-2, 3.00 GAA, .887 SV%) for the Penguins and Ryan Miller (16-17-4, 2.82 GAA, .906 SV%) for the Sabres.

Injuries: For the Penguins, center Tyler Kennedy (ankle) is out. Center Sidney Crosby (head/neck) is on injured reserve. For the Sabres, center Cody McCormick ("upper body") is out. Center Jochen Hecht (concussion) is on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' primary lines against the Flyers yesterday were:

Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Steve Sullivan - Jordan Staal - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Dustin Jeffrey - Arron Asham
Craig Adams - Joe Vitale - Richard Park

Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Deryk Engelland
Matt Niskanen - Zbynek Michalek

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

Thomas Vanek - Derek Roy - Jason Pominville
Ville Leino - Tyler Ennis - Drew Stafford
Nathan Gerbe - Paul Gaustad - Patrick Kaleta
Matt Ellis - Brad Boyes - Zack Kassian

Mike Weber - Christian Ehrhoff
Jordan Leopold - Tyler Myers
Andrej Sekera - Robyn Regehr

Notes:

-Malkin has 298 career assists.

-The last time the Penguins played the Sabres, this happened:

-James Neal got paid.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 12:15 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Rick Stewart/Getty Images)

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