Sabres awaiting Penguins

Saturday, 16 February 2013 13:38

Written by Shelly Anderson

The Sabres practiced at First Niagara Center in Buffalo, and the Penguins are expected to skate at the arean soon after flying in from Winnipeg.

Buffalo, which is mired toward the bottom of the standings at 6-8-1, might have reached a turning point Friday night. They were booed off the ice by their home crowd at the end of the second period, but came back to win, 4-2.

The Sabres figure playing a highly skilled team such as the Penguins next is a good way to forge ahead.

"Against a team like Boston, one of the top teams in the league, they're extremely good with back pressure," said winger Drew Stafford, who broke a slump Friday with his first goal of the season. "They're extremely good with high-skilled forwards. A lot like Pittsburgh. We're going to have our work cut out for us.

"[Friday] night's game was a huge statement win for us, a huge character win for us. We want to stick with it, come back against a team like that. We know we're going to have the same kind of game [from] Pittsburgh, and we have to be ready for that."