GAME-DAY RESOURCES
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LAST GAME
Wednesday, November 27
Montreal 3 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Moulson
Goalie: Miller (28 saves/31 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 2/4; Shots: Montreal 32 – Buffalo 25
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 79)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (upper body, Nov. 24; injured reserve) – 2 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/23: Recalled D Alexander Sulzer from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Cody
McCormick on IR
11/27: Claimed F Matt D’Agostini off waivers from Pittsburgh; Placed F Corey Tropp on waivers
11/28: Lost F Corey Tropp on waivers to Columbus
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Nov. 30: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 5: NY Rangers at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 7: Buffalo at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 10: Ottawa at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 12: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
MAPLE LEAFS at SABRES
- This is the third of five meetings between the Sabres and Maple Leafs this season.
- Last meeting: Toronto defeated Buffalo, 4-2, in Toronto on Nov. 16
- The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Maple Leafs; 8-1-1 at home.
- This is the 191st game all-time between Buffalo and Toronto; Buffalo leads the series with a 105-62-23 record.
- The Sabres are 63-25-8 at home against the Maple Leafs all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 10-11-0 all-time on November 29.
- November 29, 1981: Lindy Ruff records his first career hat trick in a 5-2 win at home against the Islanders.
- November 29, 1993: Dominik Hasek picks up his first shutout as a member of the Sabres, stopped all 24 Toronto shots in a 3-0 win at Maple Leaf Gardens.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres are 12-1-1 in their last 14 home games against the Maple Leafs. Toronto hasn’t won consecutive games in Buffalo since March 21 and Dec. 12, 2008. Their last regulation win in Buffalo was a 2-1 win on Feb. 16, 2011.
- Drew Stafford leads all Sabres with 28 points (12+16) in 38 career games against the Maple Leafs.
- Ryan Miller is 30-15-1 all-time against Toronto with a 2.45 GAA and a .922 SV%; Miller has more wins (30) and shutouts (4) against the Maple Leafs than any other team.
- Luke Adam has won each of his last six faceoffs, with his last loss coming on Jan. 24, 2012 at NJD.
MORE TIME FOR LEINO
Ville Leino has averaged 16:31 of ice time in the five games since Ted Nolan took over as interim head coach, tallying two assists and nine shots on goal. In his eight games played prior to Nolan’s arrival, Leino averaged 12:02 TOI per game with one assist and one shot. Leino’s Corsi for Percentage* (CF%) has also improved from 38.8% in his first eight games of the season to 45.3% in his last six.
*Corsi for Percentage: The percentage of all shot attempts (shots on goal/missed shots/blocked shots) which are taken by the player’s team with that player on the ice in 5-on-5 situations. (Data via ExtraSkater.com)
TRENDING UPWARD
The Sabres have improved their team 5-on-5 Corsi for Percentage from 35.6% before Ted Nolan’s hiring to 45.8% in the six games under his guidance. The 10.2% improvement is nearly as large as the amount (10.3%) that separates the second and 28th ranked teams in the NHL.
CENTERS OF ATTENTION
Cody Hodgson has thrived at the faceoff dot under interim head coach Ted Nolan, going 65-for-126 (51.6%) and taking 40.3% of the team’s draws in those six games. Hodgson had taken only 27.0% of the team’s faceoffs in the 20 games prior to Nolan’s arrival, with a faceoff percentage of 42.3%.
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s sixth of 13 sets of back-to-back games this season. The Sabres are 2-3-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-4-0 in the second game this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets this season is: four points (0), three points (0), two points (3), one point (0) and zero points (2).
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 51 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 other 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).
BUF-TOR CONNECTIONS
BUF LW Marcus Foligno and TOR RW Carter Ashton both played for Team Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.
BUF D Tyler Myers (12th overall), BUF C Cody Hodgson (10th overall), BUF C Tyler Ennis (26th overall) and TOR D Jake Gardiner (17th overall) were all chosen in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF D Jamie McBain and Gardiner both played at the University of Wisconsin during the 2008-09 season.
BUF LW Matt Moulson and TOR G Jonathan Bernier played together for the Los Angeles Kings and Manchester Monarchs (AHL) for two seasons (2007-2009)
BUF LW John Scott was teammates with TOR C Dave Bolland for two seasons in Chicago (2010-2012).
Scott, Ennis and TOR D Dion Phaneuf were all born in Edmonton, Alberta.
BUF D Henrik Tallinder was teammates with TOR RW David Clarkson (2010-2013) and TOR D Mark Fraser (2010-11) for the New Jersey Devils. BUF RW Matt D’Agostini was also a member of the Devils during the 2012-13 season along with Tallinder and Clarkson.
D’Agostini also played with Toronto C Jay McClement for the St. Louis Blues from 2009-2011.
BUF C Cody McCormick was teammates with Clarkson on the Belleville Bulls (OHL) for parts of two seasons (2001-2003).
McCormick and TOR C Nazem Kadri were both born in London, Ontario.
Hodgson, Clarkson and TOR C Peter Holland are all natives of Toronto.
Ennis, BUF LW Ville Leino and Kadri all share the same birthday. Ennis was born on October 6, 1989, Kadri on the same day in 1990 and Leino on October 6, 1983.
BUF C Luke Adam and Kadri both represented Canada at the 2010 World Junior Championship.
BUF G Ryan Miller played with TOR RW Phil Kessel on the 2010 US Olympic Team.
Leino and Van Riemsdyk were teammates with the Philadelphia Flyers from 2009-2011.
BUF RW Drew Stafford and Kessel both represented the United States at the 2006 and 2008 World Hockey Championships.
McBain (63rd overall), BUF G Jhonas Enroth (46th overall), BUF D Mike Weber (57th overall) and TOR LW Nikolai Kulemin (44th overall) were all drafted in the second round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF C Steve Ott and TOR C Jay McClement both played for Team Canada in the 2002 World Junior Championship.
Ott and TOR LW Mason Raymond both represented Canada at the 2010 World Hockey Championship.
BUF D Christian Ehrhoff played with Raymond for the Vancouver Canucks for two seasons (2009-2011).
BUF C Mikhail Grigorenko (12th overall), BUF C Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) and TOR D Morgan Rielly (5th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF D Alexander Sulzer played with TOR C Jerred Smithson for the Nashville Predators from 2008-2011.
Sulzer was teammates with Raymond for the Vancouver Canucks during the 2011-12 season.
Sulzer also played with TOR D Cody Franson for the Nashville Predators from 2009-2011.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (93), Foligno (69), Myers (50)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (44), Pysyk (33), Myers (32)
Shots: Stafford (66), Hodgson (61), Moulson (55)
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: 1-5-0 (2), 9/19, 3/17, 15/22
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)
ovember 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 … 8 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Steve Ott … 3 goals … 100 career goals
Points
Matt D’Agostini … 4 points … 100 career points
Cody Hodgson … 6 points … 100 career points
