Therrien's focus: Two points

Pittsburgh Penguins coach Michel Therrien's main focus for the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic is for his club to earn two points.

Therrien isn't going off message. The Winter Classic is not an exhibition game. It's an important regular-season game between two teams that are very much in the hunt in their respective divisions -- Pittsburgh in the Atlantic Division and Buffalo in the Northeast Division -- and in the Eastern Conference race.

Eight Eastern Conference teams will contest the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The other seven will have a long, long summer. The standings will change a bit as a result of Monday night's games but, as of late Monday afternoon, the Penguins are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, two points ahead of the Sabres who are tied in points with the New York Islanders and Boston Bruins. The Sabres hold the tiebreaker as a result of scoring more goals than the Islanders and having more wins than the Bruins.

Both teams know that a three-game winning streak can put you in first or second place in the division, while a three-game losing streak can drop you out of a playoff position. The conference races are that close.

That's not to say that Therrien doesn't think the outdoor game will be fun. He enjoyed skating on the outdoor rink Monday and said his players did too. Just about everything will be different, Therrien said, from the exposure to weather, playing in a football stadium, a crowd nearly five times the size of a normal NHL game and the fans sitting further back and higher up than usual.

"There's no doubt it's going to be fun to be part of that," Therrien said. "We're privileged to be part of that. But in the meantime we've got to understand this is a regular-season game, and I'm sure (Sabres coach) Lindy Ruff thinks the same thing. He wants to have those two points and we want to have those two points.

"It should be a really interesting game, a lot of emotion, a lot of excitement. But in the meantime we've got to be sure we're focused to do what we have to do to win the hockey game."

Two points. Two points. The message got through. Those words were on the lips of every Pittsburgh player after practice Monday.

"We have the same focus, the same preparation as a game inside," said left winger Ryan Malone, second behind Sidney Crosby among Penguins' forwards with a plus-4 rating. "We've kept the same setup with our meetings and the other things we normally do. We're just getting ready and acting like this is a normal game."

"Guys are excited to be here and we were excited about practicing on the ice in the outdoor rink, but at the same time it's a regular-season game," said defenseman Ryan Whitney, second to Sergei Gonchar on the Penguins with 23:16 average ice time per game. "Neither team is really where they want to be in the conference or in the division so it's a big game. I don't think you're going to see either team take it lightly or take it any less seriously than it is.

"Before we went on the ice, Coach Therrien told us to focus, take a look at the boards, see how the puck is bouncing, little things like that. That's pretty important when you think about how big this game is. We have to focus and prepare for a regular game, even though it is a little different."

Whitney said the defensive players spent quite a bit of time studying the boards, firing pucks around the boards as they would do to clear the defensive zone or pass up-ice to a breaking forward.

"We were moving the puck, D-to-D, around the boards," Whitney said. "We made sure it was bouncing pretty well. The goalies had to get used to the bounces the pucks were taking off the wall. We didn't see any pucks kicking out in front. It's something you have to get used to and we had today to do it and in warmup tomorrow."

Penguins goalie Dany Sabourin said one aspect of playing conditions will actually be better than usual. Since it will be daylight, even if the stadium lights are turned on, the lighting will be natural and there will be less glare from overhead lights. The crowd will be sitting further back from the rink.

In an arena, the fans sit right behind the glass. Because fans wear clothing of a variety of colors, the backdrop on a shot can change depending on the angle. With this rink, the backdrop will be the same from all angles, Sabourin said.

"You can lose the puck when the seats are dark or the arena is darker," Sabourin said. "You can lose the puck briefly because of what someone is wearing, behind the glass. I felt like I was seeing the puck really well. There was no glare on the glass today."

Left winger Georges Laraque played in the Heritage Classic game four years ago between his Edmonton Oilers and the Montreal Canadiens. Laraque said there was very little hard checking and very little shotblocking in the game played in minus-20F weather. He said he expects a game with only a moderate amount of checking on Tuesday, but for a very different reason.

"Buffalo is a fast-skating team like us," Laraque said. "If you look at the last game we played, Saturday, it was a fast-paced game with lots of skating.

”It's exciting to watch. It's not a matchup game where you're expecting a lot of physicality. It should be good, fast-paced hockey."