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LAST GAME
Tuesday, December 10
Ottawa 1 at Buffalo 2 (SO)
Goals: Girgensons; GDG-Girgensons
Goalie: Miller (35 saves/36 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 3/3; Shots: Buffalo 36 – Ottawa 36
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 84)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Alexander Sulzer (upper body, Dec. 5; injured reserve) – 3 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Dec. 14: Calgary at Buffalo, 2 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 17: Winnipeg at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 19: Boston at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 21: Buffalo at Boston, 7 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 23: Phoenix at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at SENATORS
- This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Senators this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Ottawa, 2-1 (SO), in Buffalo on Dec. 10
- Next meeting: Thursday, Feb. 6 in Ottawa
- The Sabres are 3-4-3 in their last 10 games vs. the Senators; 6-4-0 on the road
- This is the 119th game all-time between Buffalo and Ottawa; Buffalo has a 58-43-17 series record.
- The Sabres are 26-23-10 on the road against the Senators all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-7-4 all-time on December 12.
- December 12, 2000: J-P Dumont records his first hat trick as a member of the Sabres and Dominik Hasek stops all 22 Bruins shots in a 3-0 win at Boston.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- With the win on Tuesday, the Sabres improved to 7-4 all-time in shootouts against the Senators. Their 11 shootouts against the Senators tie their highest total against any team (5-6 vs. Boston).
- The Sabres are looking for consecutive wins against the Senators for the first time since they won four in a row from Feb. 25, to Nov. 11, 2011.
- Drew Stafford leads all Sabres with 23 points (6+17) in 38 career games against the Senators.
- Mike Weber has three points (1+2) in his last three games against the Senators. Weber’s seven points (1+6) in 18 career games against the Senators are his highest total against any team.
SABRES GOALIES ARE HOT AGAINST THE SENS
- Ryan Miller is 16-18-4 in his career against the Senators, with a .920 save percentage and a 2.62 goals against average; since the beginning of the 2010-11 season, Miller is 7-4-2 with a .940 save percentage and a 2.03 goals against average against the Senators.
- In his last three games against the Senators, Miller is 2-1-0 with a .966 save percentage and a 1.31 goals against average.
- Miller is 7-3-1 in his last 11 road games at Ottawa, with a .939 save percentage and a 1.85 goals against average.
- Jhonas Enroth is 3-1-1 in five career games against the Senators, with a 2.52 goals against average and a .924 save percentage.
GOING STREAKING
- Zemgus Girgensons enters tonight’s game on a career-best three-game point streak (1+2).
- Christian Ehrhoff has an assist in each of the last two games.
HOME-AND-HOME
- Buffalo and Ottawa will face off for the second half of a home-and-home series after the Sabres defeated the Senators, 2-1, in a 10-round shootout in Buffalo on Tuesday.
- This home-and-home series is the seventh between these two teams and the first since Feb.7 and Feb. 11, 2009.
- The Sabres went 4-2-0 in the home portion of their six previous home-and-home series with the Senators and 2-2-2 (one tie) in the road games.
- Buffalo had a record of 3-2-1 in the first game in the previous series and 3-2-1 in the second game.
- The Sabres’ points breakdown in the previous six home and home sets was: four points (1), three points (1), two points (3), one point (1) and zero points (0).
TRENDING UPWARD
The Sabres have improved their team 5-on-5 Corsi for Percentage* from 35.6% before Ted Nolan’s hiring to 46.9% in the 11 games under his guidance. The 11.3% improvement is a significant mark, larger than the amount (10.5%) that currently separates the third and 29th ranked teams in the NHL.
*Corsi for Percentage: The percentage of all shot attempts (shots on goal/missed shots/blocked shots) in 5-on-5 situations which are taken by the team. (Data via ExtraSkater.com)
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.
BUF-OTT CONNECTIONS
OTT LW Clarke MacArthur played for the Sabres from 2006-2010. While with the team, MacArthur appeared in 187 games and recorded 79 points (41+38).
BUF D Tyler Myers, BUF C Cody Hodgson, BUF C Tyler Ennis and OTT D Erik Karlsson were all drafted in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Myers was the 12th overall pick, Hodgson was chosen 10th overall, Karlsson was selected 15th overall and Ennis was drafted with the 26th overall pick.
Karlsson and BUF G Jhonas Enroth both represented Sweden at the 2012 World Hockey Championship.
OTT LW Cory Conacher played for Canisius College in Buffalo from 2007-2011.
BUF D Christian Ehrhoff played with OTT LW Milan Michalek on the San Jose Sharks from 2003-2009.
BUF C Cody Hodgson and OTT C Jason Spezza were both born in Toronto.
Spezza also played with BUF C Cody McCormick with the Belleville Bulls of the Ontario Hockey League during the 2002-03 season.
BUF LW John Scott, Ennis and OTT LW Matt Kassian were all born in Edmonton, AB, Canada.
Scott and Kassian were teammates on the AHL’s Houston Aeros during the 2008-09 season.
McCormick and OTT C Mika Zibanejad were both born on April 18. McCormick, born in 1983, is exactly 10 years older than Zibanejad, who was born in 1993.
Enroth and Zibanejad were born in the same city of Stockholm, Sweden.
OTT HC Paul MacLean was an assistant coach for the Detroit Red Wings when Sabres LW Ville Leino (2008-2010) played for the team.
MacLean also coached current Sabres AC Teppo Numminen when he was an assistant for the 1996-97 Phoenix Coyotes.
OTT RW Bobby Ryan and BUF G Ryan Miller both represented the United States at the 2010 Olympics held in Vancouver.
McBain has been teammates with two current Senators players: Turris at the University of Wisconsin (2007-08) and D Joe Corvo with Carolina (2009-2011, 2012-13).
OTT G Craig Anderson, Corvo and BUF RW Drew Stafford both represented the United States at the 2006 World Hockey Championship. Anderson and Stafford suited up for the United States in 2008 as well.
BUF LW Marcus Foligno and OTT D Jared Cowen were both members of Team Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo. The Canadian squad was coached by current OTT AC Dave Cameron.
BUF C Luke Adam and OTT RW Chris Neil share the same birthday. Adam was born on June 18, 1990, while Neil was born 11 years earlier on June 18, 1979.
Adam and OTT LW Colin Greening were both born in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Adam (44th overall) and OTT D Patrick Wiercioch (42nd overall) were both chosen in the second round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF RW Matt D’Agostini and OTT RW Erik Condra were teammates for Riessersee SC (Germany) briefly during the 2012-13 season.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ott (104), Foligno (81), Girgensons (61)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (50), Myers (41), Pysyk (37)
Shots: Hodgson (75), Stafford (71), Moulson (67)
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: 2-7-1 (5), 15/28, 4/26, 20/28
31-40: 1-0-0 (2), 2-1, 0/3, 3/3
OVERTIME RESULTS (1-2; 95-95 all-time)
October 10 vs. Tampa Bay: L, 3-2 (GWG-Killorn, 1:50)
November 29 vs. Toronto: W, 3-2 (GWG-Ehrhoff, 0:38)
November 30 at New Jersey: L, 1-0 (GWG-Bernier, 4:19)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (4-0; 54-41 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)
December 10 vs. Ottawa: W, 2-1 (GDG-Girgensons)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
John Scott … 4 games … 200 career games played
Mike Weber … 9 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Steve Ott … 3 goals … 100 career goals
Assists
Tyler Myers … 10 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Matt D’Agostini … 4 points … 100 career points
Cody Hodgson … 5 points … 100 career points
