GAME-DAY RESOURCES
| Game Notes | NHL Stats | Press Clips |
LAST GAME
Saturday, December 14
Calgary 2 at Buffalo 1 (OT)
Goals: Moulson
Goalie: Enroth (24 saves/26 shots)
PP: 0/5; PK: 4/4; Shots: Buffalo 27 – Calgary 26
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 88)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Alexander Sulzer (upper body, Dec. 5) – 5 games
Cody Hodgson (lower body, Dec. 12) – 2 games
Cody McCormick (upper body) – 0 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
12/14: Recalled F Matt Ellis from Rochester (AHL)
12/17: Activated D Alexander Sulzer from IR; Recalled F Kevin Porter and D Chad Ruhwedel from Rochester (AHL); Assigned F Luke Adam, D Brayden McNabb and D Mark Pysyk to Rochester
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Sunday, Dec. 29: Washington at Buffalo, 5 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
JETS at SABRES
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Jets this season.
- Last meeting: Winnipeg defeated Buffalo, 2-1, in Buffalo on April 22
- Next meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 31 in Winnipeg
- The Sabres are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Jets; 4-3-3 at home
- This is the 52nd game all-time between Buffalo and Winnipeg/Atlanta; Buffalo has a 21-19-11 series record.
- The Sabres are 14-8-4 at home against the Jets/Thrashers all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-9-1 all-time on December 17.
- December 17, 1978: Danny Gare scores seven seconds after the opening faceoff in a 6-3 win vs. Vancouver.
- December 17, 1983: Adam Creighton gets his first NHL point in his NHL debut, assisting on the game-winning goal in a 4-1 win at Hartford.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres are seeking their first win against the Jets since a 6-5 overtime win on Nov. 8, 2011, the first meeting between the teams after the Thrashers’ move to Winnipeg.
- Buffalo will look to break their streak of six straight games with just one goal against the Jets. In the six previous games between the teams, the Sabres scored 28 goals.
- Matt Moulson leads all Sabres with 17 points (10+7) in 15 career games against the Jets/Thrashers, including seven points (4+3) in his last six.
TRENDING UPWARD
- Entering tonight’s game, the Sabres have outshot or tied their opponents in four consecutive games for the first time since they did it from Dec. 22 to Dec. 30, 2011. The Sabres last accomplished this feat in five or more consecutive games when they did it in six straight from Nov. 6 to 17, 2010.
- In the 13 games since Ted Nolan was hired, the team has taken 48.3% 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.
- Five Sabres have a positive on-ice shot differential this season: D’Agostini (61.9%), Ellis (57.1%), Leino (53.0%), Ennis (52.9%), Moulson (50.9%)
- The Sabres are 42-39-14 (.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 47.7% in the 13 games under his guidance. The 12.1% improvement is a significant mark, nearly larger than 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-WPG CONNECTIONS
WPG D Adam Pardy played 17 games for the Sabres during the 2012-13 season, recording four points (0+4) and a plus-4 rating. He was acquired along with BUF C Steve Ott from the Dallas Stars in exchange for Derek Roy on July 2, 2012.
The Sabres selected WPG RW Chris Thorburn in the second round (50th overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. He played two career games with the Sabres, totaling one assist and seven penalty minutes.
BUF RW Matt D’Agostini and Thorburn were both born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.
BUF C Cody Hodgson, C Tyler Ennis, D Tyler Myers and WPG LW Evander Kane all won gold medals with the 2009 Canadian World Junior Championship team.
Ott and Kane both represented Canada at the 2010 World Hockey Championship.
WPG LW Andrew Ladd, RW Blake Wheeler, WPG G Al Montoya and BUF RW Drew Stafford were all taken in the first round of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Ladd was taken 4th overall by Carolina, Wheeler was taken 5th overall by Phoenix, Montoya was selected 4th overall by the NY Rangers and Stafford was taken 13th overall by Buffalo.
BUF AC Joe Sacco coached Ladd for the Lowell Lock Monsters (AHL) during the 2005-06 season.
BUF C Mikhail Grigorenko (12th overall), BUF C Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) and WPG D Jacob Trouba (9th overall) were all first-round selections in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.
BUF D Mike Weber and WPG C Bryan Little played together for the Barrie Colts during the 2006-07 season.
Ennis, BUF LW John Scott and Little were all born in Edmonton, Alberta.
Scott and WPG LW Michael Frolik both played for the Chicago Blackhawks from 2010-2012.
BUF G Ryan Miller played with WPG C Jim Slater during the 2001-02 season for the Michigan State Spartans.
Myers, Ennis, Hodgson and WPG D Zach Bogosian were all taken in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Bogosian was taken 3rd overall by Atlanta, Hodgson was selected 10th overall by Vancouver, Myers was taken 12th overall, and Ennis was taken 26th overall.
Hodgson and WPG RW Matt Halischuk were both born in Toronto, Ontario.
Stafford, WPG D Mark Stuart and WPG G Al Montoya all won gold medals with Team USA in the 2004 World Junior Championship. Montoya and Stafford were also teammates for the United States at the 2009 World Hockey Championship.
BUF LW Matt Moulson and Montoya were teammates with the New York Islanders for two seasons from 2010-2012.
Stafford was teammates with both Stuart (2008) and Bogosian (2009) for the United States at the World Hockey Championship.
BUF D Henrik Tallinder and WPG D Tobias Enstrom were teammates for Sweden at the 2010 Olympics held in Vancouver.
BUF AC Teppo Numminen played with WPG C Olli Jokinen for Team Finland at the 2002 and 2006 Olympics.
BUF C Cody McCormick and WPG RW Anthony Peluso share the same birthday. McCormick was born April 18, 1983, while Peluso was born six years later on April 18, 1989.
Moulson and Peluso were both born in North York, Ontario.
BUF D Christian Ehrhoff and WPG RW Devin Setoguchi played together for the San Jose Sharks for two seasons from 2007-2009.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Stafford (80), Hodgson (75), Moulson (71)
Hits: Ott (110), Foligno (84), Girgensons (64)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (53), Myers (44), Tallinder (39)
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: 1-1-1 (3), 4/5, 1/13, 10/10
OVERTIME RESULTS (1-3; 95-96 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)
December 14 vs. Calgary: L, 2-1 (GWG-Stajan, 0:42)
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 … 2 games … 200 career games played
Mike Weber … 7 games … 200 career games played
Marcus Foligno … 9 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
Christian Ehrhoff … 10 points … 300 career points
