Game 17- Buffalo Sabres @ Penguins

The Penguins will look to break out their "new" baby blue third jerseys tonight in a good way, with a win over the Buffalo Sabres. While the Penguins dominated the Sabres last year, sweeping the season series, Buffalo is back and has an offense as potent as ever this year. They are led by fantastic goal scorer Thomas Vanek, the multipurpose Jason Pominville, and their sure handed defenseman and captain, Craig Rivet.

The Penguins are the hottest team in the NHL right now, having reeled off five consecutive wins. The only problem that has arisen in the streak is that the Pens have shown in inability to hold leads-- They nearly allowed both Edmonton and Philadelphia to beat them after holding huge early leads. Yet, the Penguins have not lost any of those games, always rebounding to sneak away with the win. If only this team could show the same killer instinct when its ahead as when its behind, the Pens will be damn near unbeatable.

Marc-Andre Fleury will start for the Penguins, a sign of confidence in him from Head Coach Michel Therrien. Fleury was abysmal in the second period Thursday against Philadelphia, and that got him pulled for the third period, when Dany Sabourin not only stopped the bleeding, but made some spectacular saves to lead the Pens to victory in a shootout.

Ryan Miller will oppose Fleury in the Buffalo net. Miller has been inconsistent over the past two years and change, but he's been solid this year for the most part, and the Penguins can't expect to get any garbage goals against him. His greatest strength is his rebound control, so the Pens must shoot low, or just hit the twine on the first shot.

As was mentioned, the Penguins will wear their classic throwback baby blue jerseys, and that's always fun. Coincidentally, the Sabres were the Penguins' counterpart in last year's NHL Winter Classic where the jerseys were first revived. They will also wear the jerseys on Tuesday against Minnesota, and on nine other home dates for the rest of the season.

Sabres centerman Tim Connolly played last night in the Sabres 6-1 loss at home to Columbus, and he will play tonight. There was some question as to whether or not he'd be available due to a badly bruised chest.

The Penguins sent winger Paul Bissonnette to Wilkes Barre today, and he is on waivers right now. If he goes unclaimed by tomorrow afternoon, he could join the Baby Penguins.

Penguins-

Talbot-Crosby-Satan
Fedotenko-Malkin-Sykora
Cooke-Staal-Kennedy
Dupuis-Zigomanis-Godard

Orpik-Letang
Scuderi-Eaton
Goligoski-Gill

Fleury

Sabres-

Vanek-Roy-Kotalik
Hecht-Connolly-Pominville
Paille-MacArthur-Afinogenov
Peters-Gaustad-Mair

Tallinder-Rivet
Spacek-Sekera
Lydman-Numminen

Miller

GO PENS!