Penguins 1 - Sabres 4: Sliced and Diced

Getty Images

Sidney Crosby and the Penguins were absolutely sliced up by the Buffalo Sabres tonight in a 4-1 loss. The Sabres were determined to win the Eastern Conference title, and they did that with some fine goaltending and expert penalty killing.

Crosby? He finished pointless and -1 in 20:54 of ice time. Not a memorable game for him...

From Yahoo! Sports:

The streets lining Pittsburgh's Mellon Arena are draped with banners celebrating the Penguins' first playoff appearance in six years. The Buffalo Sabres gave the home team a reminder of what it takes to win in the postseason.

The Sabres clinched the Northeast Division and wrapped up the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time in 27 years, slowing Pittsburgh's rush to the postseason with a 4-1 victory on Tuesday night.

In a possible playoff preview, Thomas Vanek scored his 40th and Jason Pominville scored slightly more than a minute later in the third period to put the Sabres up by three in only their fourth victory in Pittsburgh in 10 years. They had been 3-12-5-1 there since the 1996-97 season.

Clearly, the Sabres weren't awed by the huge sign celebrating Penguins stars such as Sidney Crosby that covers nearly one side of a building near the arena.

"We took care of the puck, we didn't make a lot of mistakes and we didn't give them a lot of opportunities," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "We took a lot of pride in playing in our own end."

"We had opportunities on the power play and we didn't take advantage of them," Crosby said after the Penguins went 0-for-8 on the power play. "I think if we score on one of those power plays, it's a whole different game."

If you score on one of the PPs, it's still just a 4-2 game, not accounting for how the universe would have shifted and ...err.. *brain explodes*

Penguins 5 - Sabres 4(SO): Victory In More Ways than One!

It was a great night for Pittsburgh hockey fans.

First, it was announced that a new deal was struck to keep the Penguins in Pittsburgh for the next 30 years.

Mario Lemieux strode onto the ice amid a standing ovation and thunderous applause and gave the Pittsburgh Penguins faithful exactly what they wanted.

No, it wasn't a Stanley Cup, although young stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Jordan Staal might deliver that soon enough.

The Hall of Fame co-owner of the Penguins delivered the word that the oldest arena in the NHL will soon be replaced by a gleaming, multimillion dollar facility. And the franchise will be staying in Pittsburgh for the foreseeable future.

"Tonight, I'm proud to announce that your Pittsburgh Penguins will remain right here in Pittsburgh, where they belong," Lemieux said, standing in the spotlight under a scoreboard with his name, "Mario," in lights.

Just hours earlier, the Penguins and government officials said they had ended months of difficult negotiations and agreed on a $290 million plan to build a new arena.

Under the deal, the government agreed to waive upfront money from the team, while the Penguins will receive $10.5 million in compensation for delays. The sides also agreed to share responsibility for some cost overruns.

At a news conference, Lemieux said keeping the team in Pittsburgh was always his goal.

"Well, this is a great day for hockey," he said

Indeed, and then Sidney Crosby and the boys went out and beat the Sabres 5-4 in a fun-filled shootout.

El Cros was obviously pumped up for the game as he finished with 1 goal, 2 assists, and the shootout winner in a low 18:21 of ice time. It didn't help that Crosby was overly-enthusiasic and finished with 6 minutes in penalties.

Well, a win is a win, and the fans in Pittsburgh can breathe a hugh sigh of relief.