Game Preview: 1/29/13 vs. TOR

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Sunday, January 27
Buffalo 2 at Washington 3
Goals: Ennis, Foligno
Goalie: Miller (27 saves/30 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 2/3; Shots: Toronto 30 – Buffalo 24

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 13)
Cody McCormick (hand, Jan. 20; injured reserve) – 5 games
Ville Leino (lower body, Jan. 20; injured reserve) – 5 games
Thomas Vanek (muscle strain, Jan. 27) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/24        Activated LW Nathan Gerbe from IR; Placed LW Ville Leino on IR

UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, Jan. 31                Buffalo at Boston, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 2                  Buffalo at Montreal, 2 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 3                     Florida at Buffalo, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 5                   Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 7                  Montreal at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
MAPLE LEAFS at SABRES
-This is the second of four meetings between the Sabres and Maple Leafs this season.
-Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Toronto, 2-1, in Toronto on Jan. 21.
-The teams next meet on Thursday, Feb. 21 in Toronto.
-The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Maple Leafs; 9-1-0 at home.
-This is the 186^th game all-time between Buffalo and Toronto; Buffalo leads the series with a 103-60-22 record. The Sabres are 61-25-7 at home against the Maple Leafs all-time.

STORYLINES

1. Buffalo hasn’t been winless in three straight games since Feb. 14 to Feb. 17. The team hasn’t lost three straight in regulation since Feb. 11 to Feb. 16, 2012.
2. The Sabres will look to avoid losing consecutive home games for the first time since Feb. 14 and Feb. 17, 2012. The team finished last season with an 8-2-0 record in their last 10 home games.
3. Buffalo has won 11 of their last 12 home games vs. Toronto, dating back to a 4-1 win on Jan. 1, 2009. The Sabres’ 2-1 loss on Feb. 16, 2011 was the team’s only home loss to the Maple Leafs loss during that stretch.
4. The Sabres swept the home portion of their season series with Toronto last year for the fourth time since the Maple Leafs joined the Eastern Conference before the 1998-99 season: 1999-00 (2-0-0), 2005-06 (4-0-0), 2009-10 (3-0-0) and 2011-12 (3-0-0).

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Buffalo ranks second in the league on the power play at home (4-for-10)… Dating back to last season, Thomas Vanek has 20 points (5+15) in his last 14 games… Marcus Foligno scored his first goal of the season on Sunday at WSH and Tyler Ennis picked up an assist on the goal; Ennis has now been in on 12 of the 14 goals that Foligno has recorded a point on in his career.

HOW THEY STACK UP (Sabres ranked in the top 10)
Vanek: 9 points (T-6^th), 2 power play goals (T-5^th), 6 assists (T-7^th)
Pominville: 8 points (T-9^th)
Miller: .941 SV% (3^rd), 2.02 GAA (9^th), 2 wins (T-10^th)

LEADING THE WAY AGAINST THE LEAFS
Thomas Vanek has 46 points (22+24) in 45 career games against Toronto… Jason Pominville has 46 points (16+30) in 47 career games against the Maple Leafs, including 11 (4+7) in his last eight , dating back to 2010-11… Ryan Miller is 28-14-0 all-time against Toronto with a 2.41 GAA and a .923 SV%; Miller has more wins (28) and shutouts (4) against the Maple Leafs than any other team.

FAST STARTER
Ryan Miller ranks in the top 10 among NHL goaltenders in save percentage (.941, 3^rd) and goals against average (2.02, 9^th) entering play Tuesday, but these numbers aren’t out of the ordinary for the goaltender. In the nine previous years in which Miller played at least four games, his stats after four games topped this year’s numbers three times (2008-09, 2009-10 and 2011-12).

RISING IN THE RECORD BOOKS
With his second goal Thursday at Carolina, Jason Pominville tied Phil Housley for 12th-most goals in franchise history (178). The next night, Thomas Vanek tied Miroslav Satan for 10th-most points in franchise history (456) with a goal at home against the Hurricanes.

DYNAMIC DUO
Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville each recorded a point on the same goal six times this season, tying for third-most by an NHL duo this season. They were the seventh-most prolific pair last season, combining on 39 goals.

LINDY’S LONGEVITY
Since Lindy Ruff was named Buffalo’s head coach on July 21, 1997, there have been 170 coaching changes in the NHL. Ruff is the second-longest tenured coach in the four major professional sports leagues. Only Gregg Popovich, who began coaching the San Antonio Spurs in 1996, has been head coach of his team longer. Ruff has 567 wins as head coach of the Sabres, second-most by a head coach with a single franchise, trailing only Al Arbour (740). Ruff has more wins than any other coach with his first NHL team.

2012-13 ROSTER NOTES
Of the 23 players on Buffalo’s opening night roster:
*13 were originally drafted by the Sabres — five were first-round Buffalo selections (Vanek, 2003; Stafford, 2004; Myers and Ennis, 2008; Grigorenko, 2012)
*Six were acquired in trades: Hecht, Regehr, Ehrhoff, Hodgson, Sulzer, Ott
*Three were signed as free agents: Leopold, Leino, Scott
*One was acquired from waivers: Ellis
*20 played in Buffalo at some point last season
*Three are new to the Sabres this season: Mikhail Grigorenko was selected by the Sabres 12^th overall in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft; Scott signed as a UFA on July 1 after spending last season with the Rangers and Blackhawks; Ott was acquired in a trade with Dallas on July 2 after spending eight seasons with the Stars.
*Three players (Brennan, Foligno and Grigorenko) opened the season on an NHL roster for the first time in their careers.

BUF-TOR CONNECTIONS
BUF AC Kevyn Adams played for the Maple Leafs from 1997-2000, appearing in 58 games and recording 13 points (5+8).

TOR C Clarke MacArthur spent four seasons with the Sabres (2007-08 – 2009-10). While in Buffalo, MacArthur played in 187 games and recorded 79 points (41+38).

BUF G Ryan Miller and TOR D John-Michael Liles played together for three seasons (1999-2002) at the Michigan State University. Miller and Liles also played together on the 2006 United States Olympic Team in Torino.

BUF C Cody McCormick and BUF D Jordan Leopold have also played with Liles when they played for the Colorado Avalanche. McCormick played with Liles on the Avalanche from 2003-2009, with Leopold also playing on the squad from 2006-2009.

BUF D Robyn Regehr and TOR D Dion Phaneuf played together for five seasons on the Calgary Flames (2005-06 – 2009-10). BUF D Jordan Leopold was also on the Flames squad for the 2005-06 and 2008-09 seasons.

BUF RW Drew Stafford and TOR RW Mike Brown played together for USA at the 2005 IIHF World Junior Championship.

BUF D Alexander Sulzer and TOR D Cody Franson both played for the Milwaukee Admirals (AHL) from 2007-2010 and for the Nashville Predators from 2009-2011.

BUF C Tyler Ennis is exactly one year older than TOR C Nazem Kadri, Ennis being born on October 6, 1989 and Kadri born in 1990. BUF LW Ville Leino is exactly seven years older than Kadri.

BUF C Steve Ott and TOR D Mike Komisarek played together for the Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) in 2004-05.

TOR D Michael Kostka was a former Sabres prospect. He played for the Portland Pirates in 2008-09 and 2009-10 alongside current Sabres Cody McCormick, Tyler Ennis, Jhonas Enroth and Mike Weber.

BUF RW Jason Pominville was drafted two spots ahead of TOR C Jay McClement (drafted by STL) in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft.

BUF LW Thomas Vanek was drafted fifth overall in 2003, four picks before TOR D Dion Phaneuf.

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 2-3-0 (4), 13/15, 4/21, 18/23

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-0; 93-91 all-time)
N/A

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-0; 43-37 all-time)
N/A

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Cody Hodgson … 4 games … 100 career games played
Alexander Sulzer … 7 games … 100 career games played
Jochen Hecht … 10 games … 800 career games played
Jordan Leopold … 10 games … 600 career games played
Goals
Jason Pominville … 1 goal …179 career goals (sole possession, 12^th in franchise history)
Assists
Jason Pominville … 4 assists … 265 career assists (sole possession, 10^th in franchise history)
Points
Thomas Vanek … 1 point … 457 career points (sole possession, 10^th in franchise history)
Ville Leino … 2 points … 100 career points
Jason Pominville … 6 points … 445 career points (sole possession, 12^th in franchise history)
Jordan Leopold … 5 points … 200 career points
Tyler Ennis … 5 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
Drew Stafford … 400 career games played … 1/24 at CAR