Game Preview: 3/30/13 vs. WSH

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, March 30
Buffalo 4 at Florida 5 (SO)
Goals: Gerbe, Sekera, Stafford, Foligno
Goalie: Miller (36 saves/40 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 2/5; Shots: Florida 40 – Buffalo 40

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 89)
Alexander Sulzer (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 15 games
Thomas Vanek (upper body, March 28) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/30: Acquired a second-round draft pick and a conditional fifth-round draft pick from the St. Louis Blues in exchange for Jordan Leopold.

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Tuesday, April 9: Buffalo at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
CAPITALS at SABRES
-This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Capitals this season.
-Last meeting: Washington defeated Buffalo, 5-3, in Washington on March 17.
-The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Capitals; 2-7-1 on the road.
-This is the 143^rd game all-time between Buffalo and Washington; Buffalo leads the series with an 83-43-16 record; 39-23-10 on the road.

STORYLINES

1. Buffalo has points in four straight home games (3-0-1) entering tonight’s game. They’ll look to extend the streak to five for the first time since going went 7-0-1 in eight home games from Feb. 19 to March 24, 2012.
2. The Sabres have had 13 of their last 15 games decided by one goal. Buffalo is 6-3-4 in those 13 games and 9-8-5 in their 22 one-goal games this season.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight is Christian Ehrhoff’s 600^th NHL game. Ehrhoff will join Robyn Regehr, Jochen Hecht and Steve Ott as the fourth current Sabres player to play 600 NHL games.
• Jochen Hecht leads all Sabres with 22 points (11+11) in 36 career games against the Capitals.
• Dating back to last season, Thomas Vanek has 44 points (18+26) in his last 38 games.
• Andrej Sekera, who scored Thursday in his return from an upper body injury that caused him to miss five games, now has five points (1+4) in his last five games played.

HOW THEY STACK UP (Sabres ranked in the top 10 in the NHL before 3/29 games)
Thomas Vanek: 16 goals (T-8^th), 7 power play goals (T-7^th)
Steve Ott: 139 hits (3^rd)
Jason Pominville: 30 takeaways (T-8^th)

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s seventh of nine sets of back-to-back games this season after the team had a league-high 21 sets last season. The Sabres are 3-2-1 in the first game and 1-4-1 in the second. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets is as follows: four points (1), three points (1), two points (1), one point (1) and zero points (2).

SOPHOMORE SURGE
After finishing fifth in NHL rookie scoring last year with 41 points (19+22), Cody Hodgson leads all sophomores (defined as 2011-12 rookies) in goals, assists and points entering play Friday:

LOGGING BIG MINUTES
Defenseman Christian Ehrhoff has averaged 25:09 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 20:59 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-WSH CONNECTIONS
BUF G Jhonas Enroth played with WSH C Nicklas Backstrom on the 2006-07 Swedish World Junior team for the IIHF World Junior Championship in Sweden. Team Sweden placed fourth in the tournament.

BUF AC Kevyn Adams played alongside WSH RW Troy Brouwer on the 2007-08 Chicago Blackhawks.

Brouwer also was a teammate of BUF LW John Scott, when the two played for the Blackhawks in 2010-11.

BUF D Tyler Myers, BUF LW Tyler Ennis and WSH D John Carlson were all first-round draft picks in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Myers was picked 12th overall, Ennis was the 26th overall selection and Carlson was picked with the 27th overall selection.

Ennis, BUF LW John Scott and WSH LW Jason Chimera were all born in Edmonton, Alberta.

Chimera was a teammate of BUF C Jochen Hecht when the two played for the Edmonton Oilers during the 2001-02 season.

BUF C Steve Ott and WSH D John Erskine were teammates for four seasons (2002-03 –2005-06) when they both played for the Dallas Stars. BUF AC Teppo Numminen was also on the Stars for the 2003-04 season.

BUF LW Thomas Vanek and WSH RW Eric Fehr were both drafted in the first-round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. Vanek was the fifth overall selection while Fehr was the 18th overall pick.

BUF LW Ville Leino, BUF C Tyler Ennis and C Marcus Johansson all share the same birthday: Oct. 6. Leino, born in 1983, is six years older than Ennis, who was born in 1989, and Johansson, born in 1990, is the youngest of the three.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth, BUF D Mike Weber and WSH G Michal Neuvirth were all drafted in the second round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Neuvirth was selected 34th overall, Enroth was drafted with the 46th overall pick and Weber was picked 57th overall.

BUF RW Drew Stafford was a first-round draft selection (13th overall) in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft along with four Capitals players. WSH LW Alex Ovechkin was picked first overall, WSH LW Wojtek Wolski, picked by Colorado, was the 21st pick overall, WSH D Jeff Schultz was the 27th overall selection and WSH D Mike Green was the 29th overall pi

BUF C Jochen Hecht and WSH D Tom Poti were teammates on the 2001-02 Edmonton Oilers.

BUF C Steve Ott and WSH C Mike Ribeiro played together for six seasons (2006-07 – 2011-12) on the Dallas Stars.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (139), Weber (86), Foligno (73)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (62), Weber (58), Sekera (51)
Shots: Vanek (94), Pominville (89), Hodgson (87)

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: 2-1-1 (5), 12/12, 3/16, 11/17

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 (4-3; 47-40 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)
March 28 at Florida: L, 5-4 (GDG-Mike Santorelli)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Christian Ehrhoff … 1 game … 600 career games played
Ryan Miller … 1 game … 491 career games played (ties Dominik Hasek, most in franchise history)
Ryan Miller … 10 games … 500 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
Steve Ott … 600 career games played … 3/28 at FLA