Game Preview: 11/19/13 vs. St. Louis

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

Game Notes NHL Stats Press Clips

LAST GAME
Saturday, November 16
Buffalo 2 at Toronto 4
Goals: McBain, Ennis
Goalie: Enroth (18 saves/22 shots)
PP: 1/3; PK: 0/2; Shots: Buffalo 35 – Toronto 22

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 77)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed

Mike Weber (upper body; Oct. 26; injured reserve) – 10 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/13:
Assigned F Joel Armia to Rochester (AHL)
11/19: Activated D Mike Weber from IR; Assigned D Rasmus Ristolainen, F Johan Larsson and F Mikhail Grigorenko (conditioning assignment) to Rochester (AHL); Assigned D Nikita Zadorov to London (OHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, Nov. 21:
Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 24: Detroit at Buffalo, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 27: Montreal at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 29: Toronto at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 30: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
BLUES at SABRES

  • This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Blues this season.
  • Last meeting: St. Louis defeated Buffalo, 4-2, in St. Louis on Jan. 21, 2012
  • Next meeting: Thursday, April 3, 2014 at St. Louis
  • The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Blues; 1-7-2 at home.
  • This is the 109th game all-time between Buffalo and St. Louis; Buffalo has a 45-48-15 series record.
  • The Sabres are 30-19-6 at home against the Blues all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

  • The Sabres are 9-8-2 all-time on November 19.
  • November 19, 1993: Dale Hawerchuk records three points (1+2) against his former team, including his 300th point as a member of the Sabres, in a 6-0 win vs. Winnipeg.
  • November 19, 1999: Martin Biron records his first NHL shutout with 18 saves in a 4-0 win vs. Atlanta.
  • November 19, 2002: Ryan Miller makes his first NHL start, recording 21 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss at New Jersey.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

  • Buffalo and St. Louis will face off twice this season for the first time since 2002-03.
  • The Sabres are looking for their first win over the Blues since Dec. 27, 2009 and their first home win against St. Louis since Nov. 12, 2008.
  • Steve Ott leads all Sabres with eight points (1+7) in 28 career games against the Blues.
  • Christian Ehrhoff (2+5 in 26 GP) is the only Sabres player with more than one goal against St. Louis.
  • Matt Moulson has 17 points (7+10) in his last 15 games, including nine (2+7) in his first nine games with the Sabres.

MEET THE NEW BOSS
After being named interim head coach of the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 13, Ted Nolan began the 20th head coaching tenure in Sabres history. He joins Scotty Bowman as the second head coach to reprise his role with the Sabres in the franchise’s 43-year history after logging a 73-72-19 record in 1995-96 and 1997-98 with the Sabres. For a complete Ted Nolan bio, visit http://www.sabresdigitalpressbox.com/tednolan.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Pat LaFontaine
was appointed president of hockey operations for the Buffalo Sabres on Nov. 13. In this role, he will work with Sabres assistant general manager Kevin Devine on day-to-day hockey operations while also conducting the search for the Sabres’ next general manager.

As a player, LaFontaine enjoyed an illustrious 15-year NHL career, including six seasons with the Sabres, before retiring from the league in 1998 as the second highest-scoring American-born player in NHL history with 468 goals and 1,013 points in 865 games. Today, he ranks sixth among all Americans in goals and ninth in points, and his 1.17 points-per-game average ranks 11th among the 79 1,000-point scorers in NHL history. For a complete Pat LaFontaine bio, visit http://www.sabresdigitalpressbox.com/patlafontaine.

STAYING CLEAN
Brian Flynn
has played 48 regular-season NHL games without taking a penalty, giving him the most games played of any Sabres player in franchise history with zero penalty minutes (next highest: Ron Schock, 40 GP). Only two players in Sabres history have played at least 50 games with the team and recorded fewer than 10 penalty minutes: Larry Keenan (65 GP, 8 PIM) and Donnie Marshall (62 GP, 8 PIM).

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
The Sabres 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-STL CONNECTIONS
STL C Derek Roy spent eight seasons as a member of the Sabres from 2003-2012. Originally drafted by Buffalo in the second-round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft (32nd overall), Roy tallied 427 points (161+266) in 549 games with the team.

STL D Jordan Leopold also played for the Sabres, from 2010-2013. He recorded 67 points (25+42) in 174 games during his time in Buffalo.

Three current Sabres have played with Leopold outside Buffalo: G Ryan Miller (Team USA, 2006 Olympics), C Cody McCormick (Colorado Avalanche, 2008-09) and RW Drew Stafford (Team USA, 2008 World Hockey Championship).

Miller, STL D Kevin Shattenkirk and STL C David Backes all represented the United States at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

Stafford and Backes played together for Team USA at the 2008 and 2009 World Hockey Championships.

Stafford and STL RW T.J. Oshie were both part of the 2005-06 North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

Stafford shares a birthday with STL RW Chris Stewart (Oct. 30).

McCormick was teammates with Stewart for the Colorado Avalanche in 2008-09.

BUF AC Joe Sacco coached Shattenkirk for the Colorado Avalanche during the 2010-11 season.

BUF D Rasmus Ristolainen and Shattenkirk played together for TPS Turku (SM-liiga) during the 2012-13 season.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth, STL LW Magnus Paajarvi and STL C Patrik Berglund were all part of Team Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championship.

BUF D Mark Pysyk (23rd overall), STL RW Vladimir Tarasenko (16th overall) and STL LW Jaden Schwartz (14th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft.

Enroth and Schwartz share the same birthday. Enroth was born on June 25, 1988, while Schwartz was born four years later on June 25, 1992.

BUF LW Marcus Foligno and Schwartz both played for Team Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship, held in Buffalo.

BUF C Tyler Ennis, BUF LW John Scott and STL D Jay Bouwmeester were all born in Edmonton, Alberta.

Ennis (26th overall), Hodgson (10th overall), BUF D Tyler Myers (12th overall) and STL D Alex Pietrangelo (4th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. All four also represented Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

Hodgson and Stewart were both born in Toronto, Ontario.

BUF C Steve Ott and Bouwmeester were teammates for Team Canada at the 2001 and 2002 World Junior Championships. STL D Barrett Jackman was also a member of the Canadian squad in 2001.

Ott and STL LW Brendan Morrow played nine seasons together for the Dallas Stars from 2002-2012.

BUF D Jamie McBain and STL G Brian Elliot played together at the University of Wisconsin during the 2006-07 season.

BUF LW Matt Moulson (263rd overall), STL G Jaroslav Halak (271st overall) and Elliot (291st overall) were all selected in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

BUF President of Hockey Operations Pat LaFontaine was born in St. Louis.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits:
Ott (72), Foligno (59), Girgensons/Myers/Ristolainen (42)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (36), Pysyk (27), Myers (25)
Shots: Stafford (54), Hodgson (51), Moulson/Ennis (44)

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: 3-7-0 (6), 23/35, 5/24, 29/37
21-30: 1-1-0 (2), 5/5, 2/6, 3/5

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 94-94 all-time)
October 10 vs. Tampa Bay: L, 3-2 (GWG-Killorn, 1:50)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (3-0; 53-41 all-time)
October 17 at NY Islanders: W, 4-3 (GDG-Ennis)
November 5 at San Jose: W, 5-4 (GDG-Hodgson)
November 12 vs. Los Angeles: W, 3-2 (GDG-Moulson)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Goals

Steve Ott … 3 goals … 100 career goals
Points
Cody Hodgson … 7 points … 100 career points

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