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LAST GAME
Friday, October 25
Buffalo 3 at Florida 1
Goals: Ristolainen, Ott, Hodgson
Goalie: Enroth (44 saves/45 shots)
PP: 0/1; PK: 2/2; Shots: Florida 45 – Buffalo 21
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 55)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Joel Armia (hand, Oct. 2; injured non-roster) – 12 games
Corey Tropp (jaw, Oct. 2; injured non-roster) – 12 games
Ville Leino (rib, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 11 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/21: Recalled D Rasmus Ristolainen from Rochester (AHL)
10/22: Placed F Cody McCormick on IR
10/25: Activated F Cody McCormick from IR; Assigned F Kevin Porter to Rochester (AHL)
UPCOMING GAMES
Monday, Oct. 28: Dallas at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 31: Buffalo at NY Rangers, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 2: Anaheim at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 5: Buffalo at San Jose, 10:30 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 7: Buffalo at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at LIGHTNING
- This is the second of four meetings between the Sabres and Lightning this season.
- Next meeting: Thursday, March 6 in Tampa Bay
- Last meeting: Tampa Bay defeated Buffalo, 3-2 (OT), in Buffalo on Oct. 8
- The Sabres are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Lightning; 6-4-0 on the road.
- This is the 79h game all-time between Buffalo and Tampa Bay; Buffalo has a 49-23-6 series record.
- The Sabres are 26-10-3 on the road against the Lightning all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-9-1 all-time on October 26.
- October 26, 2006: Ryan Miller stops 29 shots and the Sabres shut out the Islanders, 3-0, on Long Island. The win gave the team a franchise-record 10 straight victories to start the season.
- October 26, 2008: Mike Weber makes his NHL debut in a 4-2 win at Florida.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- Buffalo will look to avoid losing consecutive road games to the Lightning for just the third time in franchise history (last: 11/22/03 and 3/18/04).
- In the last eight seasons, the Sabres have scored seven or more goals in a single game against the Lightning six times. Including this season, Buffalo has compiled a record of 22-9-1 (.703) against Tampa Bay in that stretch.
- Nikita Zadorov skated 20:03 in his third NHL game last night, recording seven hits.
LEADING THE WAY AGAINST TAMPA BAY
- Thomas Vanek leads all Sabres with 38 points (23+15) in 32 games against the Lightning.
- Vanek has 16 points (6+10) in 16 road games against the Lightning.
- Cody Hodgson has seven points (2+5) in six career games against the Lightning
- Ryan Miller is 19-8-0 all-time against TBL with a 2.66 GAA; Jhonas Enroth is 2-0-1 with a 1.98 GAA.
TOPPING TAMPA
- Buffalo’s franchise record of 49-23-6 (.667) against Tampa Bay is the team’s best all-time record against any Eastern Conference opponent. The team’s record against San Jose (18-10-1, .707) is the only better all-time series record.
- The Sabres’ 26-10-3 (.705) record at Tampa Bay is the team’s best road record against any Eastern Conference opponent. The Sabres’ only better road records are their records at Minnesota (5-1-0) and at Nashville (6-2-0). Their next best road record against an Eastern Conference opponent is their 39-23-10 (.611) mark at Washington.
SUNSHINE SUCCESS
The Sabres have swept nine of their 30 Florida/Tampa Bay road trips in franchise history. In the other 21 sets, the Sabres earned: three points (3), two points (12), one point (2) and zero points (4). This gives them record of 33-22-5 (.592) in previous trips. They opened this trip with a 3-1 win last night at Florida.
HODGSON’S HOT STREAK
Cody Hodgson has points (4+5) in eight of his last 10 games for the first time in any 10-game stretch in his career. He has scored a goal in each of his last three, marking the second three-game goal streak of his career (last: Jan. 20 to Jan. 24, 2013).
MILESTONE NIGHT
If he is in the lineup tonight, Tyler Ennis will appear in his 200th NHL game. Ennis, selected by the Sabres in the first round (26th overall) of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft, will become the sixth active Sabres skater to appear in 200 games with the team, joining Thomas Vanek, Henrik Tallinder, Drew Stafford, Patrick Kaleta and Tyler Myers.
FRESH FACES
Nikita Zadorov scored his first NHL goal on his first career shot on Wednesday vs. BOS, becoming the second-youngest player (18 years, 191 days) – and the youngest defenseman – in Sabres history to score a goal. Rasmus Ristolainen scored his first goal Friday at FLA. According to Elias Sports Bureau, this made them the first Sabres duo to score their first NHL goals in consecutive games since Mike Ryan (3/2/07 vs. MTL) and Nathan Paetsch (3/3/07 at TOR) and the first Sabres defensemen to accomplish this feat since Mike Boland (3/10/79 at ATL) and Ken Breitenbach (3/11/79 vs. ATL).
YOUTH MOVEMENT
With teenage rookies Zemgus Girgensons, Mikhail Grigorenko and Rasmus Ristolainen and Nikita Zadorov on the roster, the Sabres have become the first NHL team since 1995-96 to dress four teenagers during the course of a season. That year, the Sabres (Jay McKee, Martin Biron, Wayne Primeau, Vaclav Varada, Curtis Brown) joined Florida (4) and Winnipeg (6) as the last teams to dress at least four teenagers in a season.
According to Elias Sports Bureau, the Sabres have become the first team to dress four teenagers in a single game since March 30, 1996, when Winnipeg dressed four 19-year-olds (Shane Doan, Chad Kilger, Deron Quint and Oleg Tverdovsky) in a 5-2 loss to Detroit. The only time the Sabres have ever dressed four teenagers simultaneously was in the 1982-83 season, when forwards Dave Andreychuk and Paul Cyr and defensemen Phil Housley and Hannu Virta all played in 21 games together.
VANEK IN ELITE COMPANY
With his goal on 10/15 at NYI, Thomas Vanek passed Craig Ramsay for fifth-most goals in Sabres franchise history (253). He is now 14 goals shy of Danny Gare for fourth. Vanek is currently 15th on the Sabres’ games played list and his .424 goals per game rank him seventh in franchise history, behind Pat LaFontaine (.590), Rick Martin (.561), Alexander Mogilny (.554), Danny Gare (.531), Dave Andreychuk (.440) and Gilbert Perreault (.430) and just ahead of Rene Robert (.423).
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s third of 13 sets of back-to-back games this season. The Sabres are 1-2-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-1-0 in the second game this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to-back sets this season is: four points (0), three points (0), two points (1), one point (0) and zero points (1).
BUF-TBL CONNECTIONS
BUF C Steve Ott and TBL RW B.J Crombeen played together from 2007-2009 as members of the Dallas Stars.
BUF G Ryan Miller and TBL LW Ryan Malone played together as members of the 2010 United States Olympic team.
Four players in tonight’s game were drafted in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft: BUF C Cody Hodgson, BUF C Tyler Ennis, BUF D Tyler Myers and TBL C Steven Stamkos. Stamkos was the first overall selection, Hodgson was picked 10th overall, Myers was the 12th overall selection and Ennis was the 26th overall pick.
TBL D Matt Carle and BUF D Christian Ehrhoff played together for the San Jose Sharks from 2005-2008. Carle also played with BUF LW Ville Leino for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2009-2011.
TBL D Sami Salo played with Ehrhoff (2009-2011) and Hodgson (2010-2012) for the Vancouver Canucks.
TBL C Valtteri Filppula and Leino were teammates for three seasons with the Detroit Red Wings (2008-2010).
BUF G Jhonas Enroth and TBL D Victor Hedman played together for Sweden in the 2008 World Junior Championship. Sweden won the silver medal in the tournament.
BUF AC Jerry Forton coached Killorn at Harvard University during the 2011-12 season, when Forton served as an AC for the Crimson.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (39), Foligno/Girgensons/Weber (29), Tyler Myers (21)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff/Weber (24), Pysyk (15), McBain (11)
Shots: Vanek (44), Hodgson/Stafford (31), Ehrhoff (23)
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK]
1-10: 1-8-1 (3), 13/28, 3/35, 27/32
11-20: 1-1-0 (2), 5/6, 1/4, 5/6
OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 94-94 all-time)
October 10 vs. Tampa Bay: L, 3-2 (GWG-Killorn, 1:50)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-0; 51-41 all-time)
October 17 at NY Islanders: W, 4-3 (GDG-Ennis)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Tyler Ennis … 1 game … 200 career games played
Thomas Vanek … 3 games … 600 career games played
Mike Weber … 5 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Steve Ott … 5 goals … 100 career goals
Points
Thomas Vanek … 4 points … 500 career points (ties Danny Gare for 9th in franchise history)
RECENT MILESTONES
Goals
Nikita Zadorov … 1st NHL goal … Oct. 23 vs. BOS
Rasmus Ristolainen … 1st NHL goal … Oct. 25 at FLA
