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LAST GAME
Tuesday, December 17
Winnipeg 2 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Ott, Foligno, Moulson, Ellis
Goalie: Miller (25 saves/27 shots)
PP: 1/5; PK: 1/1; Shots: Buffalo 31– Winnipeg 27
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 89)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (upper body; injured reserve) – 1 game
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; Placed F Cody McCormick on IR
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Tuesday, Dec. 31: Buffalo at Winnipeg, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
BRUINS at SABRES
- This is the second of five meetings between the Sabres and Bruins this season.
- Next meeting: Saturday, Dec. 21 in Boston
- Last meeting: Boston defeated Buffalo, 5-2, in Buffalo on Oct. 23
- The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Bruins; 5-4-1 at home.
- This is the 270th game all-time between Buffalo and Boston; Buffalo has a 117-112-40 series record.
- The Sabres are 71-44-21 at home against the Bruins all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 11-7-4 all-time on December 19.
- December 19, 1987: Lindy Ruff appears in his 500th NHL game, a 2-1 Sabres win at Montreal.
- December 19, 1993: Dave Hannan plays his 100th game as a member of the Sabres, recording two assists in a 3-3 tie vs. Tampa Bay.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres have killed off their last 12 penalties, with their last power play goal against coming on Dec. 5 vs. NYR.
- Drew Stafford leads all Sabres with 24 points (11+13) in 38 career games against the Bruins.
- The Sabres will look to keep the Bruins from getting their third straight win in Buffalo for the first time since Boston swept their three games in Buffalo in 2003-04.
BESTING THE BRUINS
Ryan Miller is 25-9-7 against the Bruins in his career, with a 2.57 goals against average and a .918 save percentage. He hasn’t lost consecutive starts to Boston since the 2008-09 season, posting a 13-4-3 record in his 20 games against the Bruins since those losses. Despite picking up three losses in the last eight matchups with the Bruins, Miller has posted a .938 save percentage and 2.22 goals against average in those eight games.
HOME-AND-HOME
- The Sabres and the Bruins will face off tonight before heading to Boston for the second half of a home-and-home series on Saturday night.
- The Sabres are 9-6-4 all-time in the home portion of their home-and-home series with the Bruins and 9-5-5 in the road games.
- Buffalo has a 7-5-7 record in the first game in the previous 19 home-and -home sets against Boston and a 11-6-2 record in the second game.
- Buffalo’s points breakdown in those 19 home-and-home sets is: four points (5), three points (5), two points (5), one point (0) and zero points (4).
TRENDING UPWARD
- Entering tonight’s game, the Sabres have outshot or tied their opponents in five consecutive games for the first time since they did it in six straight from Nov. 6 to 17, 2010.
- In the 14 games since Ted Nolan was hired, the team has taken 48.7% of all shots in their games (a minus-1.4 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 with the team this season: D’Agostini (60.7%), Ellis (58.3%), Ennis (53.2%), Leino (52.5%), Moulson (51.7%)
- The Sabres are 43-39-14 (.521) 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 47.6% in the 14 games under his guidance. The 12.0% improvement is a significant mark, nearly as large as the amount (12.4%) that currently separates the second- 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-BOS CONNECTIONS
BOS LW Daniel Paille was a part of the Sabres’ organization from 2002-2009. He was selected in the first round (20th overall) by the Sabres in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. He played 195 games for the Sabres, recording 77 points (35+42). He played 153 games for the Rochester Americans, where he also recorded 77 points (35+42).
BUF interim HC Ted Nolan coached BOS LW Brad Marchand for the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) during the 2005-06 season.
BUF G Jhonas Enroth, D Mike Weber, BUF D Jamie McBain and BOS LW Milan Lucic were all selected in the second round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft. Enroth was taken 46th overall, Lucic was taken 50th overall, Weber was selected 57th overall and McBain 63rd overall.
BOS LW Loui Eriksson has been a teammate of three current Sabres players: C Steve Ott (Dallas Stars, 2006-2012), D Henrik Tallinder (Team Sweden, 2010 Olympics) and Enroth (Team Sweden, 2011 and 2012 World Hockey Championship).
Ott and BOS RW Reilly Smith were also teammates with the Dallas Stars during the 2011-12 season.
Ott also played alongside BOS G Chad Johnson for Canada at the 2010 World Hockey Championship.
BUF LW Marcus Foligno and Hamilton both represented Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.
BUF C Cody Hodgson, Smith, BOS C Chris Kelly and BOS D Dougie Hamilton are all natives of Toronto, Ontario.
BUF LW John Scott, BUF C Tyler Ennis, Boychuk and BOS RW Jarome Iginla were all born in Edmonton, Alberta.
Boychuk played under current BUF AC Joe Sacco for three consecutive seasons in the AHL with the Lowell Lock Monsters (2005-06), Albany River Rats (2006-07) and Lake Erie Monsters (2007-08).
Sacco played with BOS D Zdeno Chara for the New York Islanders for two seasons (1997-1999).
Sacco was also teammates with BOS D Dennis Seidenberg for the Philadelphia Flyers and Philadelphia Phantoms (AHL) during the 2002-03 season.
BUF D Christian Ehrhoff played with Seidenberg for Team Germany in the 2002, 2006 and 2010 Olympic Games.
BUF C Cody McCormick and BOS C Gregory Campbell were both born in London, Ontario.
Weber and BOS D Matt Bartkowski were both born in Pittsburgh, PA.
BUF G Ryan Miller and Eriksson share the same birthday. Miller was born on July 17, 1980 and Eriksson was born five years later on July 17, 1985.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Stafford (80), Hodgson (80), Moulson (76)
Hits: Ott (113), Foligno (90), Girgensons (65)
Blocked Shots: Ehrhoff (54), Myers (48), Tallinder (41)
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: 2-1-1 (5), 8/7, 2/18, 11/11
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 … 6 games … 200 career games played
Marcus Foligno … 8 games … 100 career games played
Tyler Myers … 10 games … 300 career games played
Goals
Steve Ott … 2 goals … 100 career goals
Assists
Tyler Myers … 9 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Cody Hodgson … 4 points … 100 career points
Matt D’Agostini … 4 points … 100 career points
Christian Ehrhoff … 9 points … 300 career points
