Coming off a 5-4 win over Toronto on Friday, the Sabres look to make it two straight as they visit the Penguins for the teams’ 2nd meeting of the season.
“We need to get our swagger back, especially when we have the lead,” Vanek said. “Sometimes that’s all it takes. There’s no miracle to it. Everyone here is a good player, so when we get the lead we have to go for the next one and bury a team. We didn’t quite do that [against Toronto], but I think it was a step in the right direction.”
Buffalo won in Pittsburgh back in October, with Jhonas Enroth collecting 30 saves in a 3-2 win.
The Penguins are three points ahead of Buffalo and are 8-3-2 on home ice this season. The Sabres are hanging on to the 6th spot in the Eastern Conference with 35 points. However, Montreal is in 11th and have 33 points and with 12 games on the NHL schedule tonight, those standings could change quite a bit.
The Pens are fresh off a 6-4 loss to Ottawa on Friday and will host the Sabres for the final time this regular season. Evgeni Malkin has seven points during his four game point streak and Thomas Vanek has four goals in the past five games.
The Sabres have yet to win consecutive games since their four game winning streak ended on November 11th. Since then, they are 6-7-3.
“It was a good effort by everybody. The building was rocking, the energy was great. We kind of fed off that. It was a fun game to be a part of, and a fun game to play in,” said captain Jason Pominville. “Overall our battles were much better, our special teams did a good job and we won the game. We need to keep on rolling.”
Tonight’s faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.