Ottawa had the unfortunate privilege of coming into Pittsburgh just two days after the Penguins suffered another humiliating defeat at the hands of the New Jersey Devils. After a game in which the Penguins literally handed Martin Brodeur his record setting shutout, the Senators had to know they were walking into the lion’s den.

Although it might all have ended differently if not for Marc-Andre Fleury. In the first period alone Flower had to face 24 shots and allowing just one goal. Leclaire, returning from injury for the Senators, faced just nine but also allowed a goal to Evgeni Malkin (11) on the power play to end the period tied at 1-1.

While it looked like a hockey game was afoot, what was about to happen is so horrific that young children, women and people with heart conditions are advised to look away. As the second period started a murder started to took place. The victims were the Ottawa Senator.

The period went like this:
1:03 Billy Guerin (10) – PPG and 2-1 Pens
7:35 Ruslan Fedotenko (7) and 3-1 Pens
11:25 Chris Kunitz (5) and 4-1 Pens
13:57 Billy Guerin (11) – PPG and 5-1 Pens
18:27 Evgeni Malkin (12) and 6-1 Pens

The bloody and beaten carcass of the Senators though still had life matching the Penguins 15 shots with 15 of their own but nothing to show for it due to a brick wall in net for the Penguins.

In the third the Penguins put the Senators of out their misery as Sergei Gonchar (5) added a seventh goal and Evgeni Malkin (13) capped off the hat trick for an 8-1 lead. Ottawa, in its death throws, added a late goal to make the final score 8-2 but died a short while after.

The crowd was ruckus late in the third repeatedly cheering for Billy Guerin to get more ice time in search of his own hat trick. After failing to finish on a couple opportunities however it was not meant to be.

Fleury finished the night with a massive 45 saves as the Penguins improved to 26-11-1 (53 pts) ahead of a Sunday match up with Toronto, one of the worst teams in the East at 13-17-8. Currently the Penguins sit in 4th place in the East in large part due to their inability to beat New Jersey who is in first place and also with 53 points.

Notes:
Craig Adams (-1) was the only Penguin to finish the game in the red when it comes to +/- rating.

Kunitz (1G, 3A) and Guerin (2G, 2A) both paced the Penguins with four points on the night.

As snow fell heavily all over the east coast, a Fleury fell in Buffalo – a Marc-Andre Fleury. And it was mightier than any snow storm. Stopping 31 of 32 saves in 65 minutes of regulation plus over time, the Penguins net minder added two more in the shoot out to earn his 21st win of the season the hard way. Yeah, his saves were not always pretty and a handful were just down right lucky but Fleury put himself in that possition to be lucky all night long as the Sabres peppered him with shots and crashed the net regularly.

If Fleury has not secured his spot on Team Canada for the Olympics as at least the back up then something is oh so very wrong.

Despite a face paced second and third period with Pittsburgh and Buffalo each traded rushes up the ice it was the first period where both teams scored their lone regulation goals. Jason Pominville (8) buried a rebound off Fluery’s pad at 15:05 and Chris Kunitz (4) wristed a shot past Lalime with less than a minute to go.

In the shootout Kris Letang buried his chance to put the Penguins up 1-0 after Fleury stood tall at the other end of the ice. Then, a little controversy as on Crosby’s shot, Lalime went nearly entirely into the net with the puck somewhere on or under his body. The Buffalo goal tender shimmied quickly out of the the net and the puck dropped outside the line. No review was called or needed as Fleury stopped both the prior shot and the shot afterwards to end the game.

Buffalo, who leads the Northeast Division, was a good test for the Penguins who had just come off two bruising victories against the lowly Philadelphia Flyers. The Penguins are now 25-10-1 (51 pts) and just behind the New Jersey Devils, also 51 pts but who have two games in hand in the Atlantic. Both teams will square off Monday night in Pittsburgh for a showdown.

Notes:
The Penguins power play, which had shown signs of life lately, was 0-5 despite some good chances.

With the win in Buffalo, Pittsburgh is currently riding a 5 game winning streak after starting the month 1-1-1.