GAME-DAY RESOURCES
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LAST GAME
Thursday, January 31
Buffalo 7 at Boston 4
Goals: Vanek (3), Ennis, Sulzer, Hodgson, Pominville
Goalie: Miller (38 saves/42 shots)
PP: 1/3; PK: 4/4; Shots: Boston 42 – Buffalo 32
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 20)
Cody McCormick (hand, Jan. 20; injured reserve) – 7 games
Ville Leino (lower body, Jan. 20; injured reserve) – 7 games
Robyn Regehr (lower body, Jan. 27) – 2 games
Patrick Kaleta (neck, Jan. 31) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Saturday, Feb. 9 Buffalo at NY Islanders, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 10 Boston at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
SABRES at CANADIENS
-This is the first of five meetings between the Sabres and Canadiens this season.
-Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Montreal, 3-0, in Buffalo on March 21, 2012.
-The teams next meet five days from today, on Thursday, Feb. 7 in Buffalo.
-The Sabres are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Canadiens; 8-2-0 on the road.
-This is the 254th game all-time between Buffalo and Montreal; the Sabres are 116-100-37 against the Canadiens (48-66-13 on the road).
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 9-6-2 all-time on Feb. 2. Their last win on this date was a 4-2 victory vs. PHI on Feb. 2, 2006.
- Feb. 2, 1975: Jerry Korab and Peter McNab each scored two goals in the Sabres’ 8-1 victory over the Kansas City Scouts. The Sabres recorded 58 shots on goal against Scouts goaltender Denis Herron.
STORYLINES
- The Sabres will look to win consecutive road games for the first time this season.
- Buffalo has gone 8-0-1 in their last nine games against Montreal, with their last regulation loss coming on Nov. 27, 2010. A win or overtime loss today would tie the franchise-record 10-game unbeaten streak against the Canadiens, set from Dec. 23, 1993 to Jan. 6, 1996 (8-0-2) and matched from Nov. 25, 2005 to Dec. 9, 2006 (8-0-2).
- The Sabres will play Northeast division opponents in eight of their 10 games from Jan. 29 to Feb. 15. The team is 2-0-1 against the Northeast so far this season.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
Buffalo’s 5-0-1 (.917) record against Montreal last season was the second-best in franchise history, bested only by their 6-0-0 record in 1983-84… The Sabres have more wins against the Canadiens (116) than any other franchise; they have 115 against the Bruins… Thomas Vanek was named the NHL’s Third Star of the Month for the month of January… Today is Buffalo’s third afternoon game of the season; the Sabres will play nine afternoon games this season, up from four last season.
HOW THEY STACK UP (Sabres ranked in the top 10 before 2/1 games)
Thomas Vanek: 15 points (1st), 6 goals (2nd), 9 assists (T-2nd), 3 power play goals (T-3rd), 28 shots (7th)
Jason Pominville: 5 goals (T-3rd), 12 points (T-4th), 7 assists (T-8th)
Christian Ehrhoff: 5 assists (T-5th, defensemen)
VANEK ATTACK
With his second five-point game of the season on Thursday at BOS, Thomas Vanek became the first Sabres player to record two five-point games in a season since 1992-93, when Pat LaFontaine had six and Alexander Mogilny had three. Dating back to last season, Vanek has 26 points (8+18) in his last 16 games.
NORTHEAST DIVISION
The Sabres were 13-6-5 against the Northeast division last season and have started this season 2-0-1 against their divisional rivals. Buffalo’s intra-division points percentage (.649) in 2011-12 tied for the eighth-best in franchise history. Buffalo will play Northeast division opponents in eight of their 10 games from Jan. 29 to Feb. 15.
LET’S PLAY TWO
Tonight’s game opens Buffalo’s third of nine sets of back-to-back games this season after the team had a league-high 21 sets last season. The Sabres are 1-1-0 in the first game and 1-1-0 in the second. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to-back sets is as follows: four points (1), three points (0), two points (0), one point (0) and zero points (1).
A FRESH FACE
Sabres 2012 first-round pick Mikhail Grigorenko scored his first NHL goal on Tuesday vs. TOR, becoming the fifth-youngest player in franchise history to score a goal (18 years, 258 days). The four younger scorers were Pierre Turgeon (18 years, 54 days on 10/21/87), Adam Creighton (18 years, 199 days on 12/18/83), Phil Housley (18 years, 221 days on 10/16/82) and Mike Moller (18 years, 243 days on 2/14/81). Grigorenko followed the performance up by picking up his first career assist Thursday at BOS.
DYNAMIC DUO
Thomas Vanek and Jason Pominville have each recorded a point on the same goal nine times this season, second-most by an NHL duo this season entering play on Friday. 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 568 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 12th 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-MTL CONNECTIONS
MTL LW Rene Bourque played in Calgary with BUF D Robyn Regehr from 2008-2011. BUF D Jordan Leopold was also a part of the team during the 2008-09 season and MTL LW Brandon Prust played in Calgary from 2006-2010.
MTL LW Erik Cole played for the 2006 United States Olympic team with BUF G Ryan Miller and D Jordan Leopold.
BUF D Christian Ehrhoff and MTL LW Travis Moen played together with the San Jose Sharks during the 2008-09 season.
BUF RW Drew Stafford and MTL C Petteri Nokelainen were both selected in the first round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Stafford was taken 13th overall and Nokelainen was taken 16th overall.
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 3-3-1 (7), 23/23, 6/25, 24/29
OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 93-92 all-time)
January 29 vs. Toronto L, 4-3 (GWG-Frattin, 4:58)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-0; 43-37 all-time)
N/A
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Cody Hodgson … 2 games … 100 career games played
Alexander Sulzer … 6 games … 100 career games played
Jochen Hecht … 8 games … 800 career games played
Jordan Leopold … 8 games … 600 career games played
Assists
Jason Pominville … 2 assists … 265 career assists (sole possession, 10th in franchise history)
Points
Jason Pominville … 2 points … 445 career points (sole possession, 12th in franchise history)
Ville Leino … 2 points … 100 career points
Tyler Ennis … 3 points … 100 career points
Jordan Leopold … 5 points … 200 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
Jason Pominville … 179 career goals (12th in franchise history) … 1/29 vs. TOR
Thomas Vanek … 457 career points (10th in franchise history) … 1/29 vs. TOR
