Game Preview: 11/21/13 at Philadelphia

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

Game Notes NHL Stats Press Clips

LAST GAME
Tuesday, November 19
St. Louis 4 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Ennis
Goalie: Miller (27 saves/31 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 2/3; Shots: St. Louis 31 – Buffalo 24

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

N/A

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/19:
Activated D Mike Weber from IR; Assigned D Rasmus Ristolainen and F Johan Larsson to Rochester (AHL); Assigned D Nikita Zadorov to London (OHL)
11/20: Recalled F Luke Adam and D Brayden McNabb from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Thursday, Dec. 5: NY Rangers at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at FLYERS

  • This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Flyers this season.
  • Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Philadelphia, 1-0, in Buffalo on April 13
  • Next meeting: Tuesday, Jan 14, 2014 in Buffalo
  • The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flyers; 4-6-0 on the road.
  • This is the 162nd game all-time between Buffalo and Philadelphia; Buffalo has a 63-75-23 series record.
  • The Sabres are 23-46-13 on the road against the Flyers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

  • The Sabres are 7-10-1 all-time on November 21.
  • November 21, 1981: Rick Schoenfeld and Yvon Lambert each scored two goals and Don Edwards made 28 saves in a 7-1 Sabres victory at LAK.
  • November 21, 2008: In the last meeting between these teams on this date, Martin Biron stopped all 40 Sabres shots to lead the Flyers to a 3-0 win.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

  • At the time of his recall, Luke Adam was tied for the AHL lead with 13 goals in 15 games.
  • Before Wednesday night’s games, Steve Ott was tied for third in the NHL with 79 hits.
  • The Sabres are looking for their first win in Philadelphia since their 5-3 win on March 5, 2011.
  • With a win tonight, the Sabres would have consecutive wins against the Flyers for the first time since March 5 and April 8, 2011.
  • Steve Ott has nine points (5+4) in 11 career games against the Flyers, including points (1+2) in his last three.
  • Tyler Ennis enters tonight’s game on a two-game goal streak. With a goal tonight, he would tie his career high of three, set from March 30 to April 3, 2012.
  • Matt Moulson has 17 points (7+10) in his last 16 games, including nine (2+7) in his first 10 games with the Sabres.

BRICK WALL
The Sabres haven’t allowed a goal to the Flyers in the last 99:43 played between the teams, with Ryan Miller and Jhonas Enroth combining to stop the last 44 Flyers shots. The Flyers haven’t scored an even-strength goal against the Sabres in the last 157:37 of play.

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 49 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).

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-PHI CONNECTIONS
BUF LW Ville Leino played for the Flyers for the better part of two seasons (2009-2011), recording 57 points (21+36) in 94 games. In the team’s run to the 2010 Stanley Cup Finals, Leino set Flyers franchise records for goals (7) and points (21) by a rookie in a single playoff season.

BUF LW Marcus Foligno, PHI D Brayden Schenn and PHI C Sean Couturier all played for Team Canada in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship, which took place in Buffalo, NY.

BUF C Luke Adam and Brayden Schenn both represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championship.

BUF C Tyler Ennis (26th overall), BUF D Tyler Myers (12th overall), BUF C Cody Hodgson (10th overall) and PHI D Luke Schenn (5th overall) were all first-round selections in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. All four were also teammates with Team Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

Myers and Luke Schenn also played together for the Kelowna Rockets (WHL) from 2005-2008.

PHI G Ray Emery and BUF D Christian Ehrhoff were both selected in the fourth round of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. Emery was chosen 99th overall by the Ottawa Senators, while the San Jose Sharks picked Ehrhoff 106th overall.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth, BUF D Henrik Tallinder and PHI D Nicklas Grossman all hail from Stockholm, Sweden.

BUF C Steve Ott and Grossman were teammates with the Dallas Stars from 2006-2012.

Ott and PHI C Vincent Lecavalier both represented Canada at the 2001 World Junior Championship.

Ott and PHI RW Steve Downie were teammates for Canada at the 2010 World Hockey Championship.

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. The two were also both drafted in the first round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, as Stafford was chosen 13th overall and Meszaros 23rd overall.

Stafford, PHI RW Adam Hall and PHI D Hal Gill all represented the United States at the 2006 World Hockey Championship.

BUF D Jamie McBain and Hall were teammates with the Carolina Hurricanes briefly during the 2012-13 season.

BUF C Cody McCormick and PHI LW Scott Hartnell share the same birthday. McCormick was born April 18, 1983, while Hartnell was born exactly one year earlier, on April 18, 1982.

BUF LW Matt Moulson played with PHI D Mark Streit for the New York Islanders for four seasons from 2009-2013.

Moulson was also teammates with PHI RW Wayne Simmonds for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2008-09 season.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits:
Ott (79), Foligno (61), Girgensons (46)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (38), Pysyk (29), Myers (28)
Shots: Stafford (57), Hodgson (51), Moulson (48)

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: 1-2-0 (2), 6/9, 2/8, 5/8

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)
Games Played

John Scott … 10 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Steve Ott … 3 goals … 100 career goals
Points
Cody Hodgson … 7 points … 100 career points

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