Gameday – Penguins at Sabres

Crosby was head over heels for Thomas Vanek

Gamenight tonight at HSBC Arena, as the Pittsburgh Penguins cruise in to face the Buffalo Sabres at 7:30pm. News from practice today was not good, however, as Thomas Vanek sat out most of it after taking a wicked hit against the Bruins. He came back in the third to finish that game and gave a non-answer about tonight (“I came back and finished the game, so there’s no reason I shouldn’t play tomorrow”). Thanks to John Vogl at the Buffalo News for that. Mike Harrington reports that Paille is feeling better, Patches is still one scratch but the other is not known (although he alludes to the fact that Max did extra on-ice work at practice as a hint that he may sit again).

The Penguins got down 3-0 but Crosby and Malkin helped them storm back to win 5-3 in the last game (against the Isles). Dany Sabourin got pulled (he was starting in place of the injured Marc-Andre Fleury), and some guy named John Curry stoned the Islanders the rest of the way. Curry has the start tonight, against Miller unless I hear different later. A game against the likes of Geno and Bing (as the Pensblog would put it) will be a good (if scary) way to tell if the Sabres defensive play/Miller’s goaltending prowess is back or if the past 2 games were an aberration. Go Sabres!