The first game back from the Olympic Break resulted in a Penguins victory against the Buffalo Sabres as both starting goal tenders sat letting their backups carry the load. Miller sitting might have been understandable considering that he had just played two weeks of hockey for Team USA. But Fleury sitting is a bit of a mystery considering that he received his gold medal despite never seeing a single minute of game actions for Team Canada.

The game, which marked the debut for new defenseman Jordan Leopold, a veteran 29 year old blue liner, went well for the Penguins as they pretty much showed no real signs of rust against a great Eastern Conference team and wound up with a 3-2 victory, two points and kept pace with the New Jersey Devils who also won and remain a point ahead of the Penguins with a game in hand.

Gonchar scored his 200thcareer goal in what could very well be his last season as a Penguin as Leopold, who was a -1 in his debut for the Black and Gold provides the Penguins with another, although admittedly lesser, option on defense for providing offense.

What I am really waiting for is Saturday and the debut for the flightless birds of newly acquired rental player Alexei Ponikarovsky who came over from Toronto for the hefty price of Luca Caputi. Personally, I like Poni, or the Ukrain Train as he is known, but I do not like the Penguins giving up a man that has shown he was probably the best chance the Penguins had of a reliable NHL level scoring talentdeveloped from within the organization. That internal development is the best way to put a competitive team on the ice while not flirting with salary cap disaster as the Penguins are now doing.

Ponikarovsky is a free agent at the end of the year and at just 29.  As a proven reliable 20+ goal scoring wing it means he will probably command too much money for the Penguins to even think about resigning. But then again, if Goncharwalks looking for that one more big payday that does free up some money but I wouldn’t hold my breath.  The question for Gonchar is does he want more money or more championships and only he can make that decision on how to end what I think is a Hall of Fame career.

Mortgaging the future for quick benefit is a risky endeavor. I don’t think that the Penguins have destroyed their future and made winning future championships harder by dealing Caputi. But I don’t think they have made it any easier beyond this season.

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.