Game Preview: 1/27/14 at Pittsburgh Penguins

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, January 25
Buffalo 5 at Columbus 2
Goals: Ellis, Ehrhoff, Foligno, Ott, Hodgson
Goalie: Miller (36 saves/38 shots)
PP: 0/1; PK: 4/4; Shots: Columbus 38 – Buffalo 22

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 149)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (upper body, Dec. 17; injured reserve) – 17 games
Matt D’Agostini (upper body, Jan. 18; injured reserve) – 4 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/21: Activated D Henrik Tallinder from IR; Placed F Matt D’Agostini on IR
1/22: Recalled F Phil Varone from Rochester (AHL); Activated F Kevin Porter from IR; Assigned Porter and D Brayden McNabb to Rochester
1/24: Recalled D Chad Ruhwedel from Rochester (AHL); Assigned D Mark Pysyk to Rochester

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday Jan. 28: Washington at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 30: Buffalo at Phoenix, 9 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 1: Buffalo at Colorado, 3 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 3: Edmonton at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 5: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at PENGUINS

• This is the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Penguins this season.
• Last meeting: Pittsburgh defeated Buffalo, 4-1, in Pittsburgh on Oct. 5.
• Next meeting: Wednesday, Feb. 5 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Penguins; 4-6-0 on the road.
• This is the 175^th game all-time between Buffalo and Pittsburgh; Buffalo has a 64-69-41 series record.
• The Sabres are 24-45-19 on the road against the Penguins all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-11-4 all-time on January 27.
• January 27, 1995: Dale Hawerchuk scores the 7,000^th goal in franchise history in a 7-3 loss vs. Quebec.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Cody Hodgson has points (2+3) in each of his last four games against the Penguins.
• Steve Ott enters tonight’s game on a three-game point streak. Ott has recorded eight points (2+6) in his last nine games.
• Cody Hodgson has tallied points (4+4) in six of seven games since returning from an upper-body injury that sidelined him for eight games.
• The players on the Sabres’ top line (Moulson–Ennis–Stafford) have combined for five goals and 14 points in the five games since Stafford’s return to the lineup.
• On Saturday at Columbus, Christian Ehrhoff tied his career high with three points (1+2) and became the 25^th active NHL defenseman to reach the 300-point mark.
• Drew Stafford has five points (3+2) in his last four games.

HITTING THEIR STRIDE
With their 5-2 win at Columbus on Saturday, the Sabres scored at least three goals for the sixth consecutive game. The Sabres last had three or more goals in six straight games when they did it in eight straight from March 19 to April 3, 2012.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s eighth of 13 sets of back-to-back games this season. The Sabres are 3-4-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-4-2 in the second game this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets this season is: four points (0), three points (1), two points (3), one point (1) and zero points (2).

CHANGING OF THE GUARD
On Jan. 9, the Sabres hired Tim Murray to serve as the seventh general manager in franchise history. Murray, a 20-year veteran of NHL front offices, comes to the Sabres after most recently serving as the assistant general manager for the Ottawa Senators, a post he held for seven years. Part of his duties as assistant general manager included serving as general manager of Ottawa’s American Hockey League affiliate, the 2011 Calder-Cup champion Binghamton Senators.

The Sabres also hired Craig Patrick as a special assistant and advisor to the hockey department. Patrick, whose career as a hockey executive spans more than three decades, comes to the Sabres after having served as a senior advisor in the Columbus Blue Jackets’ front office since December 2011.

PLAYING FOR THEIR COUNTRIES

• The following Sabres will represent their countries at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia: Ryan Miller (USA), Jhonas Enroth (Sweden), Henrik Tallinder (Sweden), Girgensons (Latvia)
• Interim head coach Ted Nolan will serve as the head coach of Team Latvia.

BUF-PIT CONNECTIONS
BUF D Mike Weber was born in Pittsburgh.

BUF interim HC Ted Nolan played 18 games and tallied two points (1+1) for the Penguins during the 1985-86 NHL season.

PIT LW Taylor Pyatt played 230 games with the Buffalo Sabres from 2001-2006, totaling 80 points (38+42). Buffalo acquired Pyatt via trade from the New York Islanders along with Tim Connolly in exchange for Michael Peca on June 24, 2001.

BUF C Tyler Ennis, BUF RW John Scott, and PIT D Deryk Engelland were all born in Edmonton.

Scott, PIT D Brooks Orpik and PIT LW Chris Kunitz were all born on Sept. 26. Scott, born in 1982, is the youngest while Orpik, born in 1980, and Kunitz, born in 1979, are a year apart.

BUF C Zenon Konopka played alongside Kunitz for the Anaheim Ducks during the 2005-06 season.

BUF C Steve Ott and PIT D Matt Niskanen played together in Dallas for four seasons (2007-2011). PIT LW James Neal also played in Dallas for three of those seasons (2008-2011).

Ott and Orpik were both first-round draft selections in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. Orpik, selected by Pittsburgh, was the 18^th overall pick and Ott, chosen by Dallas, was the 25^th overall selection.

Ott and PIT LW Jussi Jokinen played together for three seasons on the Dallas Stars (2005-06 – 2007-08).

Jokinen also played alongside BUF AC Teppo Numminen on Team Finland in the 2006 Olympics in Torino.

Orpik and BUF G Ryan Miller both played for Team USA at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

BUF D Christian Ehrhoff and PIT LW Tanner Glass played together for two seasons (2009-10, 2010-11) on the Vancouver Canucks. BUF C Cody Hodgson also played with the Canucks for part of the 2010-11 season.

BUF LW Matt Moulson (263^rd overall) was chosen two picks before Glass (265^th overall) in the ninth-round of the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

BUF RW Drew Stafford and PIT C Evgeni Malkin were both first-round selections in the 2004 NHL Entry Draft. Malkin was the second overall pick and Stafford was picked 13^th overall.

Stafford and PIT C Sidney Crosby were teammates at Shattuck-St. Mary’s during the 2002-03 season.

PIT RW Beau Bennett and BUF D Mark Pysyk were both first round selections in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Bennett was selected 20^th overall with Pysyk being chosen three picks later, 23^rd overall.

PIT C Brandon Sutter and BUF D Jamie McBain spent four years together as members of the Carolina organization between the NHL’s Hurricanes and AHL’s Albany River Rats.

BUF C Zemgus Girgensons (14^th overall) and PIT D Olli Maatta (22^nd overall) were all chosen in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Ennis (117), Moulson (115), Stafford (109)
Hits: Ott (166), Foligno (123), Weber (122)
Blocked Shots: Weber (79), Ehrhoff (73), Myers (68)

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: 5-3-2 (12), 20/22, 3/36, 27/29
41-50: 3-4-3 (9), 26/31, 7/36, 28/32

OVERTIME RESULTS (2-3; 96-96 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)
December 23 vs. Phoenix: W, 2-1 (GWG-Pysyk, 3:47)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (6-4; 56-45 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)
December 27 at Toronto: L, 4-3 (GDG-Lupul)
December 29 vs. Washington: W, 2-1 (GDG-Ott)
January 9 vs. Florida: L, 2-1 (GDG-Boyes)
January 12 at Washington: W, 2-1 (GDG-Hodgson)
January 15 at Toronto: L, 4-3 (GDG-Lupul)
January 18 vs. Columbus: L, 4-3 (GDG-Johansen)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Matt D’Agostini … 5 games … 300 career games played
Assists
Tyler Myers … 7 assists … 100 career assists

RECENT MILESTONES
Steve Ott … 100^th career goal … Jan. 21 vs. FLA
Phil Varone … 1^st career game … Jan. 23 vs. CAR
Phil Varone … 1^st career point (assist) … Jan. 23 vs. CAR
Christian Ehrhoff … 300^th career point … Jan. 25 at CBJ