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Penguins go for sweep of injury-riddled Sabres

Mar 12, 2008 - 2:15 PM Buffalo (32-27-11) at Pittsburgh (39-24-7) 7:30 pm EDT

PITTSBURGH (Ticker) - The Pittsburgh Penguins look to complete a season sweep of the slumping Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday.

The Penguins come in having won three of their last four games, including Sunday's 4-2 victory at Washington.

Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury is 3-1-0 in four starts since returning from a high ankle sprain that sidelined him for almost three months. Ty Conklin won all three games against Buffalo in Fleury's absence, posting a 0.65 goals-against average.

Pittsburgh will again be without the services of right wing Marian Hossa due to a sprained knee.

Hossa, who was acquired from Atlanta at the trade deadline, is not expected to play until Sunday at the earliest. Center Maxime Talbot (ankle) and right wing Petr Sykora (back) are also unavailable.

The news continues to get worse on the injury front for Buffalo. The Sabres, now in ninth place in the East thanks to their current 1-3-2 stretch, have lost defensemen Jaroslav Spacek and Dmitri Kalinin for a significant period of time due to injuries suffered in Monday's 3-2 shootout loss to the New York Rangers.

The situation could force Buffalo to use right wing Jason Pominville, the team's leading scorer, on occasional shifts on defense. Defenseman Henrik Tallinder, who missed the last three games due to a shoulder injury, is expected to play.

"Our identity's going to have to be the underdog category now, and battle through adversity," Sabres' coach Lindy Ruff said.