Post-Morning Skate: Gibbons back in lineup; Miller vs Fleury tonight

SABRES (14-29-7, 35 pts) @ PENGUINS (36-14-2, 74 pts)

Brian Gibbons will return to the lineup tonight and play on the Penguins top line with Sidney Crosby and Chris Kunitz. Gibbons showed some flashes with Crosby and Kunitz prior to being injured and is the best fit the Penguins have right now among healthy players.

The goaltending matchup tonight will be Marc Andre Fleury (28-12-1, 2.31 GAA, .915 sv%) vs Ryan Miller (13-19-3, 2.62 GAA, .926 sv%) Miller the subject of many trade rumors right now, is expected to be moved between now and the March 5th trade deadline with the Minnesota Wild and St. Louis Blues emerging as dark horses for Miller’s services. Despite having a team in front of him that’s a trainwreck, Miller has posted a .926 save percentage on the season. Miller is 7-11-3 with a 3.26 GAA in his career vs Pittsburgh but has won two straight vs Pittsburgh.

BY THE NUMBERS

— Sidney Crosby has a 15 game points streak vs the Sabres, with 9 goals and 24 points during that span. In his career, Crosby has 33 points in 23 games vs Buffalo

— The Penguins have won 14 of 15 games on home ice

— The Sabres are dead last in the NHL averaging 1.82 goals per game but has scored 20 goals in their last six games

— One of the few bright spots for the Sabres this season has been their penalty kill. They rank 12th in the NHL at 82.9%

— Buffalo’s leading scorer Cody Hodgson (12G-15A-27Pts) has 5 points in six career games vs Pittsburgh

Chris Kunitz – Sidney Crosby – Brian Gibbons

Jussi Jokinen – Evgeni Malkin – James Neal

Tanner Glass – Brandon Sutter – Jason Megna

Taylor Pyatt – Craig Adams – Deryk Engelland

Brooks Orpik – Paul Martin

Rob Scuderi – Kris Letang

Olli Maatta – Matt Niskanen

Marc Andre Fleury