Game Preview: 11/2/13 vs. Anaheim

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Thursday, October 31
Buffalo 0 at NY Rangers 2
Goals: N/A
Goalie: Miller (46 saves/44 shots)
PP: 0/1; PK: 2/3; Shots: NY Rangers 46 – Buffalo 29

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 64)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Joel Armia (hand, Oct. 2; injured non-roster) – 15 games
Corey Tropp (jaw, Oct. 2; injured non-roster) – 15 games
Mike Weber (upper body; Oct. 26; injured reserve) – 3 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
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
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.
Friday, Nov. 15: Toronto at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
DUCKS at SABRES

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Ducks this season.
• Next meeting: Friday, Nov. 8 in Anaheim
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Anaheim, 2-0, in Anaheim on Feb. 29, 2012
• The Sabres are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Ducks; 6-2-2 at home.
• This is the 27^th game all-time between Buffalo and Anaheim; Buffalo has a 15-8-3 series record.
• The Sabres are 7-3-3 at home against the Ducks all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 9-6-3 all-time on November 2.
• November 2, 1996: Dominik Hasek made 32 saves and Patrick Roy stopped all 20 Buffalo shots as the Sabres and Avalanche dueled to the fifth scoreless tie in Sabres history.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Anaheim’s last win in Buffalo was a 3-2 victory on Feb. 24, 2009.
• Matt Moulson has 10 points (7+3) in his last eight games, tallying at least a point in all but two of them.
• Steve Ott leads all Sabres with 26 points (7+19) in 48 games against the Ducks.
• Ryan Miller is 3-2-0 in his career against the Ducks with a 1.67 goals against average and a .946 save percentage.
• Christian Ehrhoff has nine points (2+7) in his last eight games against the Ducks.
• Entering Friday night’s games, Moulson ranks ninth among active NHL players with 120 goals since the beginning of the 2009-10 season.

SHUTTING OUT THE DUCKS
The Sabres have shut out the Ducks six times in the 26 all-time games between the clubs (Hasek-3, Biron-2, Miller-1). This amounts to one shutout for every 4.33 meetings, the Sabres’ highest shutout-to-games ratio against any NHL team. This ratio is so much higher against the Ducks than the closest opponent that the Ducks would have to score a goal in each of the next 19 meetings between the teams to bring it even with the next highest (7.5 SO/game, CBJ and NSH).

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.

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).

BUF-ANA CONNECTIONS
BUF AC Joe Sacco appeared in 333 games for the Ducks over five seasons (1993-1998), during his playing career, recording 130 points (62+68). For three of those seasons (1995-1998), he was teammates with ANA RW Teemu Selanne.

BUF C Cody Hodgson, ANA C Andrew Cogliano, ANA C Peter Holland and ANA C Daniel Winnik were all born in Toronto, Ontario.

BUF AC Joe Sacco coached Winnik for the Colorado Avalanche for two seasons from 2010-2012.

BUF C Steve Ott, RW Corey Perry and ANA D Francois Beauchemin all represented Canada at the 2010 World Hockey Championship.

Ott and ANA D Mark Fistric played together for the Dallas Stars for five seasons (2007-2012).

BUF LW John Scott, BUF C Tyler Ennis and Fistric are all natives of Edmonton, Alberta.

BUF RW Drew Stafford (13^th overall) and Fistric (28^th overall) were both chosen in the first round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.

BUF AC Teppo Numminen played with ANA RW Teemu Selanne for four seasons (1992-1996) on the Winnipeg Jets. The two were also teammates three times in the Olympics Games (1998, 2002 and 2006).

Numminen and ANA C Saku Koivu were both on Team Finland at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. Numminen and Koivu played together on the 1998 team in Nagano.

BUF D Rasmus Ristolainen and Koivu were both born in Turku, Finland.

BUF C Cody McCormick played with Selanne for one season (2003-04) on the Colorado Avalanche.

BUF D Tyler Myers, Ennis, Hodgson and ANA D Luca Sbisa were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Hodgson was selected 10^th overall by Vancouver, Myers was the 12^th overall pick, Sbisa was selected by Philadelphia 19^th overall and Ennis was chosen 26^th overall.

BUF D Jamie McBain and ANA D Bryan Allen were teammates with the Carolina Hurricanes from 2010-2012.

BUF D Mark Pysyk (23^rd overall) and ANA RW Emerson Etem (29^th overall) were both first-round selections in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth, BUF LW Johan Larsson, ANA G Viktor Fasth and ANA RW Jakob Silfverberg all played for Team Sweden at the 2012 World Hockey Championship.

Larsson and Silfverberg were also teammates for Brynas IF Gavle (SEL) from 2010-2012.

ANA D Cam Fowler and ANA RW Kyle Palmieri spent two seasons (2007-2009) playing under BUF HC Ron Rolston for the United States National Team Development Program (USNTDP).

Rolston also coached ANA D Ben Lovejoy at Boston College during the 2002-03 season.

BUF C Mikhail Grigorenko (12^th overall), BUF C Zemgus Girgensons (14^th overall) and ANA D Hampus Lindholm (6^th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

Girgensons and ANA C Mathieu Perreault share the same birthday. Perreault was born on January 5, 1988 and Girgensons was born on January 5, 1994.

BUF LW Marcus Foligno (104^th overall) and ANA D Sami Vatanen (106^th overall) were both fourth-round selections in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.

BUF RW Joel Armia and Vatanen both represented Finland at the 2011 World Junior Championship in Buffalo.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (48), Girgensons (36), Foligno (34)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (29), Weber (24), Pysyk (17)
Shots: Hodgson (37), Stafford (34), 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: 1-4-0 (2), 10/15, 2/11, 14/18

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