Against the Elements AND the Sabres

So the Pens have finally arrived in Buffalo, although it took some effort as evidenced by the photographs of the Pittsburgh coaching and support staffs giving their team bus the extra oomph necessary to get the wheels turning in the midst of local snow dumping by Mother Nature. As if the task wasn’t difficult enough already, Pittsburgh begins a four game road trip tonight in Buffalo against the Sabres who pushed the Pens to the brink before Marc-Andre Fleury claimed a 2-1 victory in a shootout. In the initial meeting between these sides, however, Patrick Lalime was between the pipes for Buffalo who was just another on the laundry list of teams forced the play the Pens on the backend of a back to back situation. Tonight the leading GAA and save percentage goalkeeper in the NHL with mind boggling 1.98 GAA numbers and a staggering .935 save percentage statistic gets the start for the Sabres as Ryan Miller has been difficult to solve for any opponents thus far this season. Miller was recently selected as the starting goalie for the USA Olympic team this February so the red, white, and blue stands a good chance at bringing home the gold with Miller on his current form. With this showdown of netminders, tonight’s game has the potential to be a defensive duel with each goalie trying to outdo the other in net so it sets up for quite the dramatic contest. For both sides, traffic in front of these elite goaltenders is going to be key in getting pucks behind them by not allowing them to see oncoming shots until it is too late.

Defenseman Mark Eaton will return to the lineup after missing the last three contests due to injury so the Pittsburgh defensive unit will receive a much needed boost to begin this road trip. Line combinations will again be shuffled as well to fire up some energy in the Penguins as Chris Kunitz rejoins Sidney Crosby albeit with a different winger in Pascal DuPuis as that line with have a bit of grit to it. Evgeni Malkin will be skating with Mike Rupp who was elevated to take the place of Kunitz alongside Malkin and Bill Guerin on the Penguins second unit. Head Coach Dan Bylsma may be trying send a bit of message to some players with this shake up after being outshot in four of the last five games. Hopefully Bylsma’s message inspires some better effort here tonight as the puck is dropped and Tyler Kennedy returns to the Penguins lineup after being a healthy scratch against the Leafs Sunday night. Kunitz feeds the puck from the corner to Crosby streaking to the net but his shot is blockered away easily by Miller. Kennedy may be out of the dog house after his shot on net is stopped by Miller but the rebound is corralled by Jordan Staal who pummels the puck into the empty corner of the netting for an early 1-0 Penguins lead. Fleury continues to respond when called upon stopping a powerful shot by Tim Connolly in transition for the Sabres. Pittsburgh creates a great scoring chance doing some dirty work down below the goal line as Crosby digs out the puck behind the net to get it out on the doorstep for DuPuis, but somehow it avoids getting behind Miller. The Pittsburgh defense gets caught out of position but they are bailed out by two fabulous Fleury stops as he denies Jochen Hecht on the doorstep. Eric Godard is sent off for the game’s first penalty as he heads to the box for slashing and the Pens will be on the penalty kill. Buffalo struggles on their first power play as the Penguins forecheck prevents any organization on the man advantage as the penalty expires harmlessly. Pittsburgh’s defense has been huge in their own zone snuffing out any chances for Buffalo below the goal line and on an ensuing breakout the Pens setup in the Sabres zone with some great work from Maxime Talbot to set up Guerin on the half wall whose long distance shot finds its way behind Miller into the net for a 2-0 Penguins advantage.

Pittsburgh carries that lead into period number two and that opening frame was without question one of the best starts in recent memory for the slow starting Pens. The sound play and gap responsibility by the defense has been huge so far in this one as the 2nd period gets underway with a gorgeous play by Crosby as he dangles his way over the Sabres blue line on a breakout to wait for his mates to catch up and he drops the biscuit for Kunitz who rips a slap shot by Miller for a 3-0 Pittsburgh lead and that will end Miller’s evening as Lalime is brought in to relieve the Sabres starter. Hockey is a fickle game for goalkeepers and even the best of them have off nights when their rhythm is just a bit off kilter so the Pens will be trying to beat Lalime on this power play after a penalty for hooking is assessed to Hecht. Buffalo kills of the penalty, but the Pens continue to attack the Sabres net as Cooke creates a chance for Alex Goligoski who fans on the puck near the top of the crease by Lalime. The boo birds are out in Buffalo as the Penguins continue to dominate in possession keeping the puck in the Sabres end for an extended period of time before a penalty is taken by Godard for holding. Pittsburgh is able to kill off the penalty with some great work by Craig Adams blocking shots out near the blue line to keep Fleury clean. After a swarming flurry of action around the Penguins goal, Jay McKee falls on the biscuit in the blue paint which is by rule a penalty shot and the Sabres send Drew Stafford to center ice for the chance and Fleury looks like a statue on the play as Stafford freezes him with a fake and finds the five-hole to make this game interesting closing the gap to 3-1 Pens. Lalime has made 14 saves already in very little action as the Pens are peppering the Buffalo goaltender with pucks from all angles with Cooke and Goligoski creating that a great chance near the blue line that the Sabres keeper was able to glove. Stafford is becoming a one man wrecking crew here in the latter half of this middle frame as he again has Fleury on a string and makes a move around him beautifully with his hands before tucking the puck into the net to pull even closer at 3-2 Pittsburgh. Staal takes a frustration penalty after a turnover in the Sabres zone hauling down the pickpocket with a trip to give Buffalo a power play opportunity.

The Pens escape the 2nd period with their lead, but the momentum has taken a substantial shift in the Sabres direction beginning with the penalty shot tally and continuing for the rest of the frame. Pittsburgh will look to come out with some intensity in the final period to try to take the crowd back out of this one with an early goal as the 3rd period gets going with a lot of end to end skating and very little action for either goaltender before Fleury is fallen on by Thomas Vanek in his crease and is a bit shaken up. Hard work on the boards from both clubs has been the theme in this dump and chase, close checking action to get this 3rd period going. Stafford carries the puck in down the right wing and carries it to the goal line before feathering a cross through the crease to Paul Gaustad who puts the punctuation on this Sabres comeback effort as we have a brand new hockey game now at 3-3. The Penguins continue to chase the Sabres all over the place in their own zone and are getting bunched up more often than not finding themselves out of position on numerous occasions as Fleury is forced to cover up a shot by Hecht on the doorstep. While trying to gain control of the puck in the Sabres zone, Adams commits an undisciplined penalty and is caught by the official called for boarding. Pittsburgh pays for the ill-advised trip to the sin bin as a perfectly executed give and go by Jason Pominville and Connolly finished off by Pominville puts Buffalo in front 4-3. Steve Montador returns the favor with an undisciplined penalty of his own for hooking giving the Pens a power play chance, but the Pens cannot get the disc behind Lalime with the man advantage. Pittsburgh continues to look disorganized trying to enter the offensive zone unable to really gain any synchronized breakout moving into the Sabres end of the ice. The Penguins are really putting the pressure on the Sabres netminder as shot after shot from Malkin and Guerin just miss the cage before offsetting penalties are called while Fleury is on the bench giving the Pens the extra attacker as a player a side is sent to the box. With time winding down under the thirty second mark, the Penguins use their timeout to set something up in a last gasp effort to attempt to salvage this one after blowing their early three goal lead.

Unfortunately for the Pens, this is one that gets away and after Miller was pulled from net, Lalime really stole the show to stop 27 of the 27 shots he faced giving Buffalo the energy needed to pull this one out on the Penguins. For Pittsburgh, this will be a difficult loss to take as they have to head to New Jersey to face the Devils tomorrow night in a back to back situation with a bitter taste in their mouths. There are a number of positives to take away from this game even being on the short end of the scoreboard as Pittsburgh really attacked the net pretty much all night, but their defensive gap responsibilities broke down in the latter half of the 2nd period as well as the 3rd. It will be interesting to see how the Penguins respond with little time to digest this difficult loss 24 hours from now against the Devils, but hopefully their reply is a positive one.

Tags: Bill Guerin, Buffalo Sabres, Chris Kunitz, Craig Adams, Dan Bylsma, Drew Stafford, Eric Godard, Evgeni Malkin, Jason Pominville, Jay McKee, Jochen Hecht, Jordan Staal, Marc Andre Fleury, Mark Eaton, Mike Rupp, New Jersey Devils, Pascal DuPuis, Patrick Lalime, Paul Gaustad, Ryan Miller, Sidney Crosby, Steve Montador, Thomas Vanek, Tim Connolly, Tyler Kennedy