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LAST GAME
Thursday, December 12
Buffalo 1 at Ottawa 2
Goals: Ennis
Goalie: Miller (31 saves/32 shots)
PP: 1/5; PK: 3/3; Shots: Buffalo 41 – Ottawa 32
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 86)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Alexander Sulzer (upper body, Dec. 5; injured reserve) – 4 games
Cody Hodgson (lower body, Dec. 12) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Friday, Dec. 27: Buffalo at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
FLAMES at SABRES
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Flames this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Calgary, 2-1, in Buffalo on Nov. 4, 2011
- Next meeting: Tuesday, March 18 in Calgary
- The Sabres are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Flames; 8-1-1 at home
- This is the 98th game all-time between Buffalo and Calgary; Buffalo has a 48-33-16 series record.
- The Sabres are 30-13-5 at home against the Flames all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 11-6-3 all-time on December 14.
- December 14, 2005: Martin Biron stopped 32 shots in a 4-3 win against the Dallas Stars, winning his 11th consecutive start. Biron would post wins in each of his next two starts, bringing his streak to 13 straight wins in games he started.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- These teams will meet twice this season for the first time since the 2001-02 season.
- Only 11 skaters (six Sabres and five Flames) remain on these teams’ rosters from the last time they met, on Nov. 4, 2011.
- The Sabres have won their last eight home games against the Flames, and tied the one before the winning streak. The Flames’ last win in Buffalo came on March 15, 1996 at Memorial Auditorium.
- The home team has won the last six games between the Sabres and Flames.
- Christian Ehrhoff leads all Sabres with 16 points (3+13) in 31 career games against the Flames.
- Tyler Ennis has four points (3+1) in his last four games.
TRENDING UPWARD
- Entering tonight’s game, the Sabres have outshot or tied their opponents in three consecutive games for the first time since they did it in four straight from Dec. 22 to Dec. 30, 2011.
- In the 12 games since Ted Nolan was hired, the team has taken 48.1% of all shots in their games (a minus-2 differential per game), up from 40.2% (a minus-12 differential per game) in the 20 games before his hiring.
- Four Sabres have a positive on-ice shot differential this season: D’Agostini (62.0%), Leino (52.8%), Ennis (52.5%), Moulson (50.3%)
- The Sabres are 42-39-13 (.516) when outshooting their opponent and 65-63-15 (.507) when outshot by their opponent since the beginning of the 2010-11 season.
- The team has improved its team 5-on-5 Corsi for Percentage* from 35.6% before Ted Nolan’s hiring to 46.8% in the 12 games under his guidance. The 11.2% improvement is a significant mark, nearly as large as the amount (11.6%) that currently separates the third and 30th 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-CGY CONNECTIONS
CGY D Chris Butler spent three seasons as a member of the Sabres from 2008-2011. During his time in Buffalo, the blueliner compiled 36 points (5+31) in 155 regular season games. Initially drafted by the Sabres in the fourth-round (96th overall) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft, Butler was dealt to Calgary on June 25, 2011 along with Paul Byron in exchange for Robyn Regehr, Ales Kotalik and a second-round pick in 2012.
CGY C Paul Byron appeared in eight games for the Sabres in the 2010-11 season, recording two points (1+1).
CGY RW Lee Stempniak was born in West Seneca, NY and played junior hockey for the Buffalo Lightning (OPJHL).
CGY GC Clint Malarchuk played for the Sabres from 1988-1992, seeing action in a total of 102 games. He tallied a record of 39-39-16 with the team.
CGY D Dennis Wideman was originally drafted by the Sabres in the eighth round (241st overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, but did not play any games as a member of the club.
BUF RW Drew Stafford and Stempniak were teammates for the United States for three consecutive World Hockey Championship tournaments from 2007-2009.
Stafford (13th overall) and CGY D Ladislav Smid (7th overall) were both chosen in the first round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF AC Joe Sacco coached CGY LW T.J. Galiardi and CGY RW David Jones for the Colorado Avalanche from 2009-2012. Sacco coached Galiardi for the Lake Erie Monsters (AHL) in 2008-09 as well.
BUF LW Matt Moulson (263rd overall) and Jones (288th overall) were both selected in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF C Cody McCormick and Galiardi played together briefly for the Colorado Avalanche during the 2008-09 season.
McCormick was also teammates with Jones for the Avalanche from 2007-2009.
McCormick and CGY C Matt Stajan both played for the Belleville Bulls (OHL) from 2000-2003.
BUF LW Marcus Foligno (1991) and Jones (1984) were both born on August 10th.
Foligno (104th overall) and CGY LW Lane MacDermid (112th overall) were both selected in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF G Jhonas Enroth and CGY C Mikael Backlund played together for Team Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championship.
BUF C Steve Ott and Cammalleri were teammates for Canada for two years at the World Junior Championship (2001-2002).
Moulson and Cammalleri played together for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2007-08 season.
D’Agostini and Cammalleri both played for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2009-10 season.
Ott and CGY D Kris Russell both represented Canada at the 2010 World Hockey Championship.
D’Agostini and Russell were teammates for the St. Louis Blues during the 2011-12 season.
BUF C Cody Hodgson (10th overall), BUF D Tyler Myers (12th overall), BUF C Tyler Ennis (12th overall) and CGY C Joe Colborne (16th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.
Hodgson and CGY D Mark Giordano were both born in Toronto, Ontario.
Ennis and Russell were both members of the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) from 2005-2007.
BUF LW Ville Leino and CGY C Jiri Hudler played together for the Detroit Red Wings for two seasons (2008-2010).
BUF D Christian Ehrhoff and CGY D Shane O’Brien were teammates with the Vancouver Canucks during the 2009-10 season.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Stafford (77), Hodgson (75), Moulson (69)
Hits: Ott (107), Foligno (84), Girgensons (63)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (53), Myers (43), Pysyk (38)
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: 1-1-0 (2), 3-3, 1/8, 6/6
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 … 3 games … 200 career games played
Mike Weber … 8 games … 200 career games played
Marcus Foligno … 10 games … 100 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
