Game 22: Penguins vs Sabres tonight: Pesonen to play with Malkin

3-2 at the end of the second period. Penguins begin the third period on a 5 on 3 for 53 seconds.

Crosby puts the Penguins up 3-2 at 19:04 of the second period. Great play by Malkin cause a turnover at the redline and Crosby did the rest beating Ryan Miller 5-hole.

Defenseman Phillipe Boucher left the game with an undisclosed injury and will not return.

It didn’t take long for Michel Therrien to put¬†the Crosby/Malkin/Sykora unit¬†together. Crosby ties the game at 2-2. Assist to Evgeni Malkin —

1 – 1 at the end of the first period. Curry played well and was tested in the first. Janne Pesonen had two shifts and played a total of one minute in the first period.

8:16 p.m. Penguins 0-3 on the power play. Sabres penalty kill is very aggressive and there clogging the neutral zone. Dupuis denied on a breakaway which led to the Penguins third power play of the first period. Dupuis has gone 13 games without a goal.

8:06 p.m. Sabres counter the Penguins and score a 1:04 later to tie it at 1-1. Goal by Stafford

8:05 p.m. 1-0 Pittsburgh at 10:29 in the first period. Goal by Tyler Kennedy, his 6th goal of the season. (1st in 8 games)

7:55 p.m. Pesonen is already showing a difference in his play compared to training camp. In the preseason he was holding onto the puck way too long and defenseman had a field day stepping up on him at the blue line. In his last shift he poked the puck deep and used his speed to go get it.

7:50 p.m. Malkin looking very good in the early going…. Penguins 0-1 on the power play

7:47 p.m. Godard mixing it up after the whistle. Even took a couple shots at Afinigonov. Godard has been much better at filling the enforcer role than I thought he would be when the Penguins signed him

7:43 p.m. One line change since the morning skate….Dupuis starting with Crosby’s line…. Most likely because of Talbot’s foot who will start the game on the fourth line.

7:28 p.m. As expected Ruslan Fedotenko will be a healthy scratch for the Penguins. Eric Godard gets the nod over Fedotenko but Sabres enforcer Andre Peters will be a healthy scratch.

6:57 p.m. Heavily scouted game. Click here for a update on which teams are in the building and which team is here to see Janne Pesonen.

According to a source Janne Pesonen will play with Evgeni Malkin and Petr Sykora in tonight’s game.

Pittsburgh Penguins (13-5-3) at Buffalo Sabres (10-8-3)

Pittsburgh: 1-0-0

Pittsburgh: Evgeni Malkin 10 goals, 25 assists, 35 pts

Buffalo: Thomas Vanek 15 goals, 20 pts; Andrej Sekera 10 assists;

Pittsburgh – John Curry (1-0-0, 0.00 GAA, 1.000 save%)

Buffalo – Ryan Miller (9-5-2, 2.53 GAA, 910 save%)

Pittsburgh – Power Play: 17.7%, Penalty Kill: 82.8%

Buffalo – Power Play: 18.8%, Penalty Kill: 85.1%

Talbot – Crosby – Satan

Pesonen – Malkin – Sykora

Cooke – Staal – Kennedy

Dupuis – Zigomanis – Godard

Orpik – Letang

Scuderi – Boucher

Gill – Goligoski

Starting Goaltender: John Curry

Lineup News: Max Talbot will play tonight. Sources tell me Ruslan Fedotenko or Eric Godard will be scratched tonight.

*GTD* Vanek-Roy-Stafford

Gaustad-Hecht-Pominville

Afinogenov-MacArthur-Mancari

Peters-Mair-Kaleta

D-Pairs

Spacek – Numminen

Sekera – Lydman

Tallinder – Rivet

Starting Goaltender: Ryan Miller

Lineupnews: Buffalo News reports Thomas Vanek was seen leaving the ice early in the morning skate and his status for tonight’s game is up in the air. Vanek leads the Sabres with 15 goals on the season.

Prediction: Pittsburgh 4 – Buffalo 3