Game Preview: 3/28/13 at FLA

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Tuesday, March 26
Buffalo 1 at Tampa Bay 2
Goals: Leopold
Goalie: Miller (23 saves/25 shots)
PP: 0/4; PK: 4/5; Shots: Tampa Bay 25 – Buffalo 14

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 87)
Alexander Sulzer (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 14 games
Andrej Sekera (upper body, March 17) – 5 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, March 30: Washington at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 31: Boston at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, April 2: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 5: Ottawa at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 7: New Jersey at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at PANTHERS
-This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Panthers this season.
-Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Florida, 4-3 (SO), in Florida on Feb. 28.
-The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Panthers; 7-2-1 on the road.
-This is the 75^th game all-time between Buffalo and Florida; Buffalo leads the series with a 43-26-5 record. Buffalo is 19-15-2 on the road against the Panthers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
March 28, 1999: With the Sabres trailing the Penguins 3-1 in the third period, Alexei Zhitnik scored the 8,000^th goal in franchise history to kickstart a Buffalo comeback win that would be capped by a Dixon Ward overtime goal.

STORYLINES

1. The Sabres will look to bounce back from a 2-1 loss at Tampa Bay on Tuesday. Buffalo hasn’t lost consecutive games in regulation since their four-game losing streak from Feb. 17-23, going 7-4-3 since that stretch.
2. The Sabres have had 12 of their last 14 games decided by one goal. Buffalo is 6-3-3 in those 11 games and 9-8-4 in their 21 one-goal games this season.
3. After Tuesday night’s 2-1 loss at Tampa Bay, Buffalo will look to avoid being swept on a Florida road trip for just the fifth time in 28 attempts. They have swept nine of the previous 27 and earned between one and three points in the other 18 sets.
4. Jason Pominville’s team-leading 29 points (11+28) in 29 games against the Panthers is his second-best per-game output against an Eastern Conference opponent, trailing only his 35 points (16+19) in 29 games against Tampa Bay. Pominville has points in eight of his last nine games against the Panthers (5+8).
5. Thomas Vanek’s team-leading 17 goals in 29 games against the Panthers is his second-best per-game output against an Eastern Conference opponent, trailing only his 23 goals in 30 games against Tampa Bay.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight is Steve Ott’s 600^th NHL game. Ott will join Robyn Regehr, Jochen Hecht and Jordan Leopold as the fourth current Sabres player to play 600 NHL games. Christian Ehrhoff, playing his 599^th game tonight, is on track to become the fifth on Saturday vs. WSH.
• Dating back to last season, Thomas Vanek has 44 points (18+26) in his last 38 games.
• Cody Hodgson has 25 points (9+16) in his last 27 games.

HOW THEY STACK UP (Sabres ranked in the top 10 in the NHL before 3/27 games)
Thomas Vanek: 16 goals (T-7^th), 7 power play goals (T-7^th), 29 takeaways (T-8^th)
Steve Ott: 137 hits (3^rd), 56.9% faceoff percentage (8^th)
Jason Pominville: 29 takeaways (T-8^th)

SOPHOMORE SURGE
After finishing fifth in NHL rookie scoring last year with 41 points (10+22), Cody Hodgson leads all sophomores (defined as 2011-12 rookies) in goals, assists and points (stats before 3/27 games):

LOGGING BIG MINUTES
Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff has averaged 25:10 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 21:00 is the highest by a Sabres forward since Miroslav Satan averaged 21:23 in 2002-03.

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-FLA CONNECTIONS
BUF D Jordan Leopold played with the Panthers for the 2009-10 season. As a Panther, Leopold played in 61 games and notched 18 points (7+11).

BUF D Alexander Sulzer played with the Panthers during the 2010-11 season. While in Florida, Sulzer played in nine games and recorded one point (0+1).

BUF Assistant Coach Kevyn Adams played for Florida during the 2000-01 and 2001-02 seasons. He played in 56 games and tallied 21 points (7+14) during the two seasons.

Drafted by the Sabres in the sixth round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, FLA D Brian Campbell played in Buffalo for parts of eight seasons (1999-00 – 2007-08). As a Sabre, Campbell tallied 176 points (32+144) in 391 games. Campbell was selected as an NHL All-Star in 2007 and 2008.

BUF D Christian Ehrhoff and FLA C Marcel Goc played together for four seasons on the San Jose Sharks from 2005-2009.

Goc also played with BUF C Jochen Hecht and BUF D Christian Ehrhoff on the German Olympic Team. Hecht and Ehrhoff represented Germany at the 2002 Winter Games, while Goc joined the two for the 2006 and 2010 Winter Games.

BUF G Ryan Miller and FLA D Mike Weaver played together for one season at Michigan State University.

FLA RW Tomas Kopecky and BUF D Andrej Sekera represented their native Slovakia at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

BUF AC Kevyn Adams and FLA RW Kris Versteeg both played on the 2007-08 Chicago Blackhawks squad.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth, BUF D Mike Weber and FLA C Shawn Matthias were all drafted in the second round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Enroth, drafted by Buffalo, was the 46th overall selection, Matthias was selected by Detroit one pick later with the 47th overall selection, and Weber, also picked by Buffalo, was the 57th overall selection.

BUF D Jordan Leopold played with FLA G Jose Theodore for two seasons on the Colorado Avalanche (2006-07, 2007-08). FLA RW George Parros also played for the Avalanche in 2006-07.

FLA C Mike Santorelli and BUF D Alexander Sulzer played together for two seasons (2008-09, 2009-10) on the Nashville Predators, along with FLA RW Jerred Smithson. Sulzer and Santorelli also played together for the Panthers during the 2010-11 season after they both were traded to Florida.

FLA HC Kevin Dineen was the head coach of the Portland Pirates for the three seasons the Sabres were affiliated with the Pirates. Dineen helped develop three straight AHL rookies of the year in Nathan Gerbe (2009), Tyler Ennis (2010) and Luke Adam (2011).

Dineen was also a teammate of BUF AC James Patrick on the Canadian Olympic Team at the 1984 Games in Sarajevo.

BUF AC Kevyn Adams was also a teammate of Dineen’s on the 2000-01 Columbus Blue Jackets squad.

FLA AC Craig Ramsay began his coaching career with Buffalo when he served as an assistant coach during the 1986-87 season and took over as interim head coach later in the year. Prior to leaving the Sabres in 1993, Ramsay also served as the team’s director of player personnel and assistant general manager. Ramsay played for the Sabres for 14 seasons and is second in franchise history with 1,070 games played for the club.

BUF RW Drew Stafford and FLA D Tyson Strachan were both born on October 30. Stafford, born in 1985, is one year younger than Strachan, who was born in 1984.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (137), Weber (83), Foligno (71)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (61), Weber (57), Sekera (51)
Shots: Vanek (94), Pominville (86), Hodgson (83)

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 (8), 20/27, 1/36, 35/42
21-30: 4-3-3 (11), 29/31, 5/36, 26/35
31-40: 2-1-0 (4), 8/7, 2/12, 8/12

OVERTIME RESULTS (1-2; 94-93 all-time)
January 29 vs. Toronto: L, 4-3 (GWG-Frattin, 4:58)
March 16 vs. Ottawa: L, 4-3 (GWG-Turris, 3:54)
March 19 at Montreal: W, 3-2 (GWG-Ott, 2:16)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (4-2; 47-39 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)
March 21 vs. Toronto: W, 5-4 (GDG-Ott)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Steve Ott … 1 game … 600 career games played
Christian Ehrhoff … 2 games … 600 career games played
Goals
Thomas Vanek … 1 goal … 247 career goals (ties Mike Foligno, 6^th in franchise history)
Assists
Jason Pominville … 6 assists … 275 career assists (ties Dale Hawerchuk, 8^th in franchise history)

RECENT MILESTONES
Jordan Leopold … 200 career points … 3/19 at MTL
Ville Leino … 100 career points … 3/19 at MTL