Pre-game
*The Sabres are 23-14-4 all-time in season openers; Ryan Miller is 5-1-1.
*Buffalo is 16-6-4 all-time when opening at home.
After 1st period: PHI 0 – BUF 1
*Steve Ott scored on his first shot with the Sabres. The goal was his first ever in a season-opener.
*The last player to score in his Sabres debut was TJ Brennan, who scored in his NHL debut 11/23/11 vs. Boston. Ville Leino also scored on his first shot in his first game with the team in last year’s season opener vs. Anaheim (10/7/11).
*Jason Pominville (assist) ranked fifth in the league with 46 points (17+29) at home last season. Pominville has not gone two home games without recording a point since Feb. 25 and 26, 2011.
*The Sabres were 25-9-8 last season when scoring the first goal.
*Buffalo was 20-4-5 when leading after the first period last season.
*Injury update: Flyers C Zac Rinaldo will not return (lower body).
After 2nd period: PHI 2 – BUF 2
*Pominville leads all Sabres with 26 points (11+15) in 27 career games against the Flyers.
*Vanek has 13 points (4+9) in his last 12 games. He has five points (3+2) in his last five games against the Flyers.
*Pominville and Vanek have both recorded two points tonight. The pair each recorded a point on the same goal 39 times last season. They’re already part of a 16-way tie for the league lead among all NHL duos this year with two.
Final: PHI 2 – BUF 5
* Vanek’s career-best five-point game is the first by a Sabres player since Stafford scored five (3+2) vs. ATL on Jan. 18, 2008. His nine shots tie a career high, set 1/30/2008 at FLA and tied twice last year (10/7/11 vs. ANA, 3/7/12 vs. CAR).
*Pominville now has 27 points (11+16) in 27 career games against the Flyers.
*Vanek now has 16 points (5+11) in his last 12 games.
*Pominville and Vanek have combined on a league-high three goals. They combined on 39 last season, ranking them seventh among all duos in the NHL.
*Eight different Sabres recorded a point today, the most in a season-opener since 10 tallied in a 6-4 loss on Oct. 5, 2007 vs. NYI.
