Game Preview: 4/13/13 vs. PHI

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Thursday, April 11
Montreal 5 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Flynn
Goalie: Miller (28 saves/32 shots); Enroth (9 saves/10 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 6/8; Shots: Montreal 42 – Buffalo 15

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 107)
Alexander Sulzer (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 22 games
Ville Leino (upper body, March 31) – 6 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Sunday, April 14: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, April 17: Buffalo at Boston, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, April 19: NY Rangers at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 20: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Monday, April 22: Winnipeg at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TODAY’S GAME
FLYERS at SABRES
-This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Flyers this season
-Last meeting: Philadelphia defeated Buffalo, 3-2, in Philadelphia on March 10.
-The Sabres are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flyers; 3-5-2 at home.
– This is the 160^th game all-time between Buffalo and Philadelphia; Buffalo has a 62-75-23 record.
-Buffalo is 39-29-10 at home against the Flyers all-time.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Today is Buffalo’s eighth afternoon game of the season. They are 2-4-1 in the first seven. The Sabres will play nine afternoon games this season, up from four in 2011-12.
• April is the Sabres’ best month since 2005-06; they have a 26-13-3 (.655) April record in that span, including a 3-2-0 record so far this season.
• The Sabres have had 15 of their last 22 games decided by one goal. Buffalo is 7-3-5 in those 15 games and 10-8-6 in their 24 one-goal games this season.
• Brian Flynn has had a positive or even plus/minus rating in 18 of his 19 games this season. The Sabres are 8-7-4 in those games.

BREAKING GROUND
Before today’s game, the Sabres will officially break ground on HARBORcenter, a mixed-use hockey and entertainment facility being developed on the Webster Block in downtown Buffalo, directly across Perry Street from First Niagara Center. Upon its completion, the $172 million project will feature two full-size NHL ice rinks, a full-service hotel, a two-story restaurant, street-level retail space and a five-level, 850-space parking structure. The ice rinks, restaurant, and retail stores are scheduled to open in September 2014. The hotel is slated to open in the spring of 2015.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s eighth of nine sets of back-to-back games this season after the team had a league-high 21 sets last season. The Sabres are 3-2-2 in the first game and 1-5-1 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 (2) and zero points (2).

LATE-SEASON PUSH
The Sabres have performed at or above a .625 points percentage (103-point pace over 82 games) in the final 20 games in each of the last three seasons. This was an improvement upon their record from the first 62 games of the season each time.

So far this season, Buffalo is at .539 in games that fall in the final 20 of the season, .110 better than their performance in the 28 games leading up to that point.

READY WHEN CALLED UPON
Five of Buffalo’s top six players in terms of record when in the lineup have spent at least 20 games with the Rochester Americans this season: Luke Adam (3-1-0), Adam Pardy (6-3-1), Matt Ellis (3-2-1), Mark Pysyk (6-5-1), Brian Flynn (8-7-4).

The only outlier is Ville Leino (4-2-3), who has the Sabres’ third-best points percentage when in the lineup. Interim head coach Ron Rolston, who coached the Americans through their first 48 games of the season, has a 10-9-5 record with the Sabres, which would rank ninth among the players.

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 and points (stats as of 4/12):

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.

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

Briere played four seasons for the Sabres, from 2002-03 – 2006-07, recording 230 points (92+138) through 225 games.

BUF LW Thomas Vanek was selected fifth overall in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft, three picks before PHI D Braydon Coburn (drafted by Atlanta) and 18 picks above PHI D Andrej Meszaros (drafted by Ottawa).

BUF LW Marcus Foligno, PHI D 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 the 2011-12 season with the New York Rangers.

Both BUF G Jhonas Enroth and PHI D Nicklas Grossman are from Stockholm, Sweden.

BUF C Steve Ott and PHI D Nicklas Grossman both played for the Iowa Stars (AHL) in 2006-2007.

BUF G Ryan Miller and PHI G Michael Leighton both played for the Rochester Americans (AHL) for parts of the 2005-2006 season.

BUF C Steve Ott and PHI G Michael Leighton played together for the Windsor Spitfires of the OHL from 1999-2001

BUF RW Drew Stafford and Team USA played against PHI D Andrej Meszaros and Team Slovakia in the 2004 and 2005 IIHF World Junior Championships.

BUF C Luke Adam and PHI D Brayden Schenn both played for Team Canada in the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championships.

BUF RW Drew Stafford (USA) and PHI C Maxime Talbot (Canada) played against each other in the 2004 IIHF World Junior Championships.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (175), Weber (105), Foligno (92)
Blocked Shots: Weber (80), Ehrhoff (73), Sekera (61)
Shots: Stafford (104), Hodgson (103), Ennis (98)

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: 5-3-2 (12), 27/27, 4/35, 26/35
41-48: 0-1-1 (0), 1/5, 0/2, 6/8

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 (5-4; 48-41 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)
March 30 vs. Washington: L, 4-3 (GDG-Matt Hendricks)
April 7 vs. New Jersey: W, 3-2 (GDG-Nathan Gerbe)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Patrick Kaleta … 3 games … 300 career games played
Ryan Miller … 4 games … 500 career games played
Goals
Thomas Vanek … 1 goal … 247 career goals (ties Mike Foligno, 6^th in franchise history)
Steve Ott … 7 goals … 100 career goals

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A