Tonight the NHL’s worst road team (and team team) which has just five wins away from home, takes on the Eastern Conference’s best home team, which has 21 wins in 25 games. To make matters worse, the road team’s usually All-Star caliber goalie, and the only man keeping such a talent-less team afloat turns into a pumpkin when he faces the aforementioned home heroes.
To quote the great Harrison Ford, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”
The Buffalo Sabres will be traveling to Pittsburgh today to take on the Penguins, and they’ve got an uphill battle ahead of them if there ever was one. To make matters worse, one of the Sabres hottest scorers, Drew Stafford, is out tonight, and anyone from Ville Leino to Linus Omark may take his place.
While beating Pittsburgh at home is a daunting task, the Sabres could take hope in the fact that the Penguins have had trouble facing Buffalo at home in the past. What they can’t take solace in is that Ryan Miller has been terrible throughout his career against Pittsburgh. Ted Nolan poo-poohed the numbers today, simply deciding to play his best goaltender as much as possible (shocking, I know) but Miller’s career against the Penguins is troubling nonetheless.
Game #51
Buffalo Sabres (14-29-7) at Pittsburgh Penguins (36-14-2)
Puck Drop – 7:30pm EST – Consol Energy Center – Pittsburgh, PA
TV – NBCSN, TSN2, RDS2, ROOT | Radio – WGR 550-AM
SBNation Penguins Blog – Pensburgh
Three Questions
1. Will the possession stats be as god-awful as they were against Columbus?
The Sabres were out-Corsi’d against the Blue Jackets by an amazing 60 shots attempted, 92-32. They happened to win that game thanks to some good luck, but let’s not try that again, eh?
2. Can Ryan Miller defeat his Pittsburgh demons?
No team ha bested Ryan Miller like the Penguins have – in 23 career starts versus Pittsburgh, Miller is 7-11-3 with an .888 save percentage.
3. How long will this offensive outburst last?
The lowest scoring team in the league has scored 20 goals in their last 6 games (Pittsburgh fans, don’t laugh) but can they keep it up with the loss of Drew Stafford?
Projected BUF Lines
Moulson – Ennis – Leino
Ott – Hodgson – Girgensons
Foligno – Varone – Flynn
Omark – Konopka – Ellis
Ehrhoff – McBain
Myers – Tallinder
Weber – Ruhwedel
Goal: Ryan Miller
Scratches/Injuries: Sulzer, Stafford, McCormick, D’Agostini, Scott
