Game Preview: 10/31/13 at NY Rangers

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Monday, October 28
Dallas 4 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Moulson (2), Ott
Goalie: Miller (25 saves/29 shots)
PP: 1/3; PK: 2/3; Shots: Dallas 29 – Buffalo 25

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 61)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Joel Armia (hand, Oct. 2; injured non-roster) – 14 games
Corey Tropp (jaw, Oct. 2; injured non-roster) – 14 games
Mike Weber (upper body; Oct. 26; injured reserve) – 2 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/25: Activated F Cody McCormick from IR; Assigned F Kevin Porter to Rochester (AHL)
10/26: Activated F Ville Leino from IR; Placed D Mike Weber on IR
10/27: Acquired F Matt Moulson, a first-round selection in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and a second-round selection in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft from the New York Islanders in exchange for F Thomas Vanek

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Friday, Nov. 8: Buffalo at Anaheim, 10 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 12: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at RANGERS

• This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Rangers this season.
• Next meeting: Thursday, Dec. 5 in Buffalo
• Last meeting: New York defeated Buffalo,8-4, in Buffalo on April 19
• The Sabres are 4-2-4 in their last 10 games vs. the Rangers; 5-2-3 on the road.
• This is the 166^th game all-time between Buffalo and New York; Buffalo has a 78-54-33 series record.
• The Sabres are 31-30-20 on the road against the Rangers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 5-3-5 all-time on October 31.
• October 31, 1997: The Sabres get their first win against the Carolina Hurricanes after the team’s move from Hartford on the strength of a Jason Dawe overtime goal.
• October 31, 1998: Geoff Sanderson scores a hat trick on three shots in just 14:18 of ice time to lead the Sabres to a 6-3 win at Toronto.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres have earned at least a point in their last seven road games against the Rangers, going 4-0-3 in those games. Their last regulation loss at NYR came on March 21, 2009. With a point tonight, the Sabres would tie the longest stretch without a regulation loss at NYR in franchise history (eight games, 1/16/85-12/20/89).
• Entering Wednesday night’s games, Matt Moulson ranks ninth among active NHL players with 120 goals since the beginning of the 2009-10 season.
• Moulson has 10 points (7+3) in his last seven games, tallying at least a point in all but one of them.
• Cody Hodgson has recorded points in 10 of his last 12 games, totaling 10 points (4+6).

WHO’S HOT AGAINST THE RANGERS?

• Drew Stafford has seven points (6+1) in his last five games against the Rangers.
• Ryan Miller is 8-2-4 in his last 15 games against the Rangers with a .935 save percentage and a goals against average of 1.94. He has only allowed three or more goals three times in those 15 games.
• Marcus Foligno has five points (2+3) in four career games against the Rangers.
• Tyler Ennis has 11 points (3+8) in 11 career games against the Rangers, including two of his five career three-point games (4/6/10 and 3/23/12).
• Mark Pysyk scored his first career goal in his only game against the Rangers the last time these teams met (4/19).
• Matt Moulson leads all Sabres with 21 points (10+11) in 23 games against the Rangers.

WELCOME TO BUFFALO
With Matt Moulson scoring on his first shot in a Sabres uniform on Monday vs. DAL, the Sabres now have six players on their roster who scored on their first shot with the team: Moulson (10/28/13 vs. DAL), Zadorov (10/23/13 vs. BOS), Girgensons (10/2/13 at DET), McBain (10/8/13 vs. TBL), Ott (1/20/13 vs. PHI), Leino (10/7/11 vs. ANA).

FRESH FACES
Nikita Zadorov scored his first NHL goal on his first career shot on 10/23  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 10/25 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, 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.

BUF-NYR CONNECTIONS
BUF HC Ron Rolston has coached four current Rangers players: C Brian Boyle (Boston College, 2003-04), D Ryan McDonagh (Team USA, 2009 World Junior Championship), C J.T. Miller (United States National Team Development Program, 2009-2011) and C Dominic Moore (Harvard University, 1999-2002).

NYR LW Taylor Pyatt played 230 games with the Buffalo Sabres from 2001-2006, totaling 80 points (38+42). Buffalo acquired Pyatt via trade from the New York Islanders along with Tim Connolly in exchange for Michael Peca on June 24, 2001.

BUF LW Matt Moulson was teammates with Boyle for the Los Angeles Kings for parts of the 2007-08 and 2008-09 seasons.

Moore was a member of the Sabres for part of the 2008-09 season, contributing four points (1+3) in 18 games.

BUF LW John Scott played a brief stint with the Rangers during the 2011-12 season, appearing in six games.

McDonagh was teammates with BUF D Jamie McBain at the University of Wisconsin from 2007-2009. NYR C Derek Stepan was also a member of the team during the 2008-09 season.

J.T. Miller (15^th overall) and BUF RW Joel Armia (16^th overall) were consecutive picks in the first-round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft.

NYR RW Ryan Callahan played for the Buffalo Lightning (OPJHL) during the 2001-02 season.

BUF RW Drew Stafford and Callahan both represented the United States in the 2005 World Junior Championships.

BUF G Ryan Miller and Callahan were teammates for Team USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth and Hagelin both represented Team Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championships.

Scott and NYR LW Benoit Pouliot were teammates on the Minnesota Wild from 2008-2010.

Ott has played alongside three current Rangers players: C Brad Richards (Dallas Stars 2007-2011), LW Rick Nash (Team Canada, 2002 World Junior Championship) and D Michael Del Zotto (Team Canada, 2010 World Hockey Championship).

BUF LW Ville Leino was teammates with NYR RW Arron Asham (2009-10 season) on the Philadelphia Flyers.

BUF LW Johan Larsson played briefly with NYR D Justin Falk for the Minnesota Wild in 2012-13.

BUF D Henrik Tallinder and NYR G Henrik Lundqvist both represented Sweden at the 2010 Olympics.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (47), Foligno/Girgensons (32), Weber (29)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (28), Weber (24), Pysyk (15)
Shots: Hodgson (34), Stafford (33), Moulson (32)

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: 1-3-0 (2), 10/13, 2/10, 12/15

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)
Goals
Steve Ott … 4 goals … 100 career goals

RECENT MILESTONES
Games Played
Tyler Ennis … 200^th career game … Oct. 26 at TBL
Goals
Nikita Zadorov … 1^st NHL goal … Oct. 23 vs. BOS
Rasmus Ristolainen … 1^st NHL goal … Oct. 25 at FLA