Scouting the Enemy: Buffalo Sabres

Record: 16-13-4

Leading scorers: Thomas Vanek (14G, 6A, 30pts), Jason Pominville (9G, 17A, 26 pts)

Blogs: Die By the Blade, Buffalo Blog

Didn't the Pens just play the Sabres last week?  Actually it was two weeks ago, but lately these losses just tend to mesh together.  It may be safe to say the Penguins' woeful month of hockey started with the Sabres and their come-from-behind win on December 8.

With any luck the Penguins' power play will perform better tonight than the last time these two teams met.  Remember?  The Penguins had THREE 5-on-3 chances and converted just once.  Not to mention four 5-on-4s that proved fruitless.

And so here we are again.  The Sabres are mastering the win-loss pattern effectively this month.  If the last six games are evidence to a pattern, then technically the Sabres are due a win tonight.  But that's just cheesy speculation based on nothing more than a pattern of outcomes.  It couldn't possibly have any weight to it.  Right?

Let's hope not.

Ryan Miller is showing some zeal in net lately.  He grabbed a shutout early last week against the Kings and nearly carried the Sabres through overtime to a shootout on Saturday before Montreal used him as target practice.  Despite an iffy win-loss record for the team as a whole, I can never allow myself to rule out Miller.

Interestingly enough this is the last game of the season between the Pens and Sabres.  Such is the glory of NHL scheduling. 

The Pens are 1-2-0 and will hopefully even the series tonight with a win before taking on Tampa Tuesday night for the second half of a double header.