Game Preview: 3/10/13 at PHI

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Thursday, March 7
Buffalo 2 at New Jersey 3 (SO)
Goals: Vanek, Flynn
Goalie: Enroth (27 saves/29 shots); Miller (4 saves/ 4 shots)
PP: 1/3; PK: 2/3; Shots: New Jersey 33 – Buffalo 25

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 70)
Ville Leino (lower body, Jan. 20; injured reserve) – 25 games
Jordan Leopold (upper body, Feb. 21; injured reserve) – 8 games
Alexander Sulzer (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 6 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, March 12              NY Rangers at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 16              Ottawa at Buffalo, 3 p.m.
Sunday, March 17                Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, March 19              Buffalo at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 21             Toronto at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at FLYERS
-This is the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Flyers this season
-Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Philadelphia, 5-2, in Buffalo on Jan. 20.
-These teams will next meet on Saturday, April 13 in Buffalo.
-The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flyers; 5-5-0 on the road.
– This is the 159^th game all-time between Buffalo and Philadelphia; Buffalo trails the series with a 62-74-23 record. Buffalo is 23-45-13 on the road against the Flyers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 9-7-4 all-time on March 10, having played on this date in each of the last six seasons. Buffalo has won their last three games on this date. The last loss was a 5-2 loss at Philadelphia on March 10, 2009.
• March 10, 1980: Traded Jerry Korab to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a first-round pick in the 1982 NHL Entry Draft (Phil Housley).
• March 10, 1981: Traded Rick Martin to the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for a third-round pick in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft (Colin Chisholm) and a first-round pick in the 1983 NHL Entry Draft (Tom Barrasso).

STORYLINES

1. Jason Pominville leads all Sabres with 27 points (11+16) in 27 career games against the Flyers, including 10 (3+7) in his last seven.
2. Buffalo is in the midst of a four-game road trip, their longest such stretch this season. Tonight, the team will look to avoid their first four-game road winless streak since they lost 12 straight road games from Dec. 17, 2012 to Jan. 21, 2013.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres are 3-2-2 against the Atlantic Division this season, their best record against any division.
• Cody Hodgson has 18 points (7+11) in his last 19 games.
• Dating back to last season, Thomas Vanek has 40 points (15+25) in his last 32 games.
• The Sabres have gone to the shootout four times in their last five games for the first time in franchise history.

HOW THEY STACK UP (Sabres ranked in the top 10 in the NHL before 3/9 games)
Thomas Vanek: 29 points (T-5^th), 13 goals (T-6^th), 6 power play goals (T-4^th), 27 takeaways (T-3^rd)
Jason Pominville: 21 takeaways (10^th)
Steve Ott: 110 hits (2^nd)

LOGGING BIG MINUTES
Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff has averaged 25:06 TOI per game this season, the highest average of his career and the highest per-game average by a Sabres skater since Alexei Zhitnik skated 26:32 per game in the 2002-03 season. Jason Pominville’s average TOI of 20:52 is the highest by a Sabres forward since Miroslav Satan averaged 21:23 in 2002-03.

RISING IN THE RECORD BOOKS
With two assists on March 5 at CAR, Jason Pominville passed Mike Foligno (264) for 10^th-most assists in Sabres history and tied Derek Roy (266) for ninth-most. He trails Dale Hawerchuk by nine assists for eighth.

MEET THE NEW BOSS
After being named interim head coach of the Buffalo Sabres on Feb. 20, Ron Rolston became the 16^th head coach in Sabres history. Rolston joins the Sabres after spending the 2011-12 and 2012-13 seasons as head coach of the Rochester Americans (AHL), compiling a 63-44-17 regular-season record. Prior to joining the Americans, Rolston spent seven seasons as head coach with USA Hockey’s National Team Development Program, where he led the United States Under-18 team to three gold medals and a silver medal in four tournaments as head coach at the IIHF World Under-18 Championship.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD
The Sabres hired Ron Rolston to serve as interim head coach on Feb. 20 after the Sabres got off to a 6-10-1 (.382) start. It was the first time the Sabres had replaced their head coach mid-season since John Muckler took over for Rick Dudley on Dec. 11, 1991 after a 9-15-4 (.393) start to the season. The 1991-92 team went 22-22-8 under Muckler, ending the season 31-37-12 and finishing third in the Adams Division to clinch a playoff spot.

BUF-PHI CONNECTIONS
BUF LW Ville Leino played with Philadelphia for two seasons (2009-10, 2010-11). As a Flyer, Leino played in 94 games and tallied 57 points (21+36).

PHI RW Danny Briere played with the Sabres for four seasons (2002-03 – 2006-07). Briere was the team’s top point scorer in 2003-04 (65) and 2006-07 (95). He tied Jochen Hecht for most assists (37) in 2003-04 and led the team in assists (63) in 2006-07. During his four seasons with Buffalo, Briere played in 225 games, amassing 230 points (92+138).

Briere also played with BUF Assistant Coach Teppo Numminen for six seasons on the Phoenix Coyotes from 1997-2003, before Briere was traded to the Sabres during the 2002-03 season.

PHI LW Jody Shelley played briefly (one game) with the Columbus Blue Jackets in 2000-01 with BUF Assistant Coach Kevyn Adams. Shelley also played with BUF D Christian Ehrhoff on the San Jose Sharks for two seasons (2008-09, 2009-10).

BUF D Jordan Leopold played with PHI C Maxime Talbot and PHI LW Ruslan Fedotenko on the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009-10 season.

BUF Assistant Coach Teppo Numminen and PHI D Kimmo Timonen were both a part of Team Finland for the 1998, 2002 and 2006 Winter Olympic Games.

BUF G Ryan Miller, BUF D Jordan Leopold, PHI head coach Peter Laviolette and PHI GM Paul Holmgren all represented Team USA at the 2006 Winter Olympic Games in Torino. Laviolette served as head coach and Holmgren was an assistant general manager for the team.

BUF Assistant Coach Kevyn Adams played under PHI head coach Peter Laviolette for parts of three seasons (2003-04, 2005-06, 2006-07) in Carolina, including the Hurricanes’ Stanley Cup-winning season in 2005-06.

Laviolette also played with BUF assistant coach James Patrick on the New York Rangers during the 1988-89 season.

BUF LW Thomas Vanek and PHI D Braydon Coburn were both first-round selections in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Vanek, selected by Buffalo, was the fifth overall pick and Coburn, selected by Atlanta, was picked eighth overall.

BUF LW Marcus Foligno, PHI C Brayden Schenn and PHI C Sean Couturier all played for Team Canada in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championships, which took place in Buffalo, NY.

BUF LW John Scott and PHI LW Ruslan Fedotenko both played for the New York Rangers in 2011-12.

BUF C Steve Ott and PHI D Nicklas Grossmann both played for the Iowa Stars in 2006-07.

Tyler Myers and Luke Schenn both played defense for the Kelowna Rockets (WHL) from 2005-2008.

BUF D Robyn Regehr and PHI LW Jody Shelley both played for the St. John Flames (AHL) in the 1999-2000 season.

Danny Briere, Tyler Ennis and Ville Leino all share a birthday. Briere was born Oct. 6, 1977, Leino was born six years later, in 1983, and Ennis was six years after that, in 1989.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (110), Weber (60), Foligno (54)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (45), Sekera (45), Weber (33)
Shots: Vanek (79), Pominville (71), Ennis (68)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 3-6-1 (7), 30/37, 6/36, 32/40
11-20: 4-6-0 (6), 20/27, 1/36, 35/42
21-30: 2-1-2 (6), 15/16, 3/18, 14/19

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 93-92 all-time)
January 29 vs. Toronto        L, 4-3 (GWG-Frattin, 4:58)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (3-2; 46-39 all-time)
February 7 vs. Montreal    W, 5-4 (GDG-Pominville)
February 28 at Florida       W, 4-3 (GDG-Vanek)
March 2 vs. New Jersey     W, 4-3 (GDG-Pominville)
March 3 at NY Rangers             L, 3-2 (GDG-Nash)
March 7 at New Jersey              L, 3-2 (GDG-Clarkson)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Goals
Thomas Vanek … 4 goals … 247 career goals (ties Mike Foligno, 6^th in franchise history)
Assists
Jason Pominville … 1 assist … 267 career assists (sole possession, 9^th in franchise history)
Points
Jordan Leopold … 2 points … 200 career points
Ville Leino … 2 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
Jason Pominville … 265 career assists (sole possession, 10^th in franchise history) … 3/6 at CAR