Game Preview: 3/7/14 at Florida Panthers

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Thursday, March 6
Buffalo 3 at Tampa Bay 1
Goals: Myers, Foligno, Hodgson
Goalie: Enroth (43 saves/44 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 3/3; Shots: Tampa Bay 44 – Buffalo 21

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 173)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
N/A

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/5: Claimed F Cory Conacher off waivers from Ottawa
3/5: Acquired F Nicolas Deslauriers and F Hudson Fasching from Los Angeles in exchange for D Brayden McNabb, F Jonathan Parker, a second-round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and a second-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
3/5: Acquired G Michal Neuvirth and D Rostislav Klesla from Washington in exchange for G Jaroslav Halak and a third-round pick in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft.
3/5: Acquired F Torrey Mitchell, a second-round pick in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft and a second-round pick in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft from Minnesota in exchange for F Matt Moulson and F Cody McCormick.

UPCOMING GAMES
Sunday, March 9: Chicago at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 11: Nashville at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 13: Buffalo at Carolina, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 15: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 7 p.m.
Sunday, March 16: Montreal at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at PANTHERS

• This is the fourth and final meeting between the Sabres and Panthers this season.
• Last meeting: Florida defeated Buffalo, 4-3, in Buffalo on Jan. 21
• The Sabres are 4-3-3 in their last 10 games vs. the Panthers; 7-1-2 at home.
• This is the 79^th game all-time between Buffalo and Florida; Buffalo has a 44-27-7 series record.
• The Sabres are 20-15-3 on the road against the Panthers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 7-5-5 all-time on March 7.
• March 7, 2013: Brian Flynn records his first NHL point (goal), in 3-2 shootout loss at New Jersey.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Zemgus Girgensons and Chris Stewart left last night’s games with injuries and are not expected to play tonight.
• Michal Neuvirth (NOI-vihrt) is expected to start in goal tonight. If he does, he will become the 39^th goaltender in franchise history to appear in a regular-season game.
• Jhonas Enroth has faced the Panthers twice this season, stopping 78 of 80 shots to go 1-0-1 with a 0.96 GAA and a .975 SV%.
• Buffalo will look to avoid losing three consecutive games to the Panthers for just the second time in franchise history (last: Oct. 15, 2005 to Jan. 1, 2006).
• Jamie McBain has points in four of his last six games against the Panthers (1+3).
• Drew Stafford has recorded 12 points (6+6) in his last 12 games.
• Christian Ehrhoff has nine points (3+6) in his last 11 games. He needs a point tonight to avoid going three games without a point for the first time since November.
• Tyler Ennis has nine points (4+5) in his last nine games and 17 points (8+9) in his last 19 games.

SUNSHINE SUCCESS
After their 3-1 win last night in Tampa Bay, the Sabres will have a chance to sweep their Florida road trip with a win tonight. The Sabres have swept nine of the previous 31 Florida/Tampa Bay road trips in franchise history. In the 21 remaining sets, the Sabres earned: three points (3), two points (13), one point (2) and zero points (4). This gives them record of 34-23-5 (.589) in previous trips.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s 10^th of 13 sets of back-to-back games this season after a 3-1 win at Tampa Bay last night. The Sabres are 4-6-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-5-3 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 (2) and zero points (3).

TRADE DEADLINE RECAP
A list of players and picks traded to and from the Sabres yesterday, sorted by position:

HAPPY DREW YEAR
Drew Stafford’s career point rate from October through December is .486 (105 points in 216 games), putting him on a 40-point pace for an 82-game season. His rate from January through April is .655 (184 points in 281 games), putting him on a 54-point pace. He has 12 points (6+6) in 14 games so far in 2014 (.857 PTS/GP).

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.

BUF-FLA CONNECTIONS
BUF D Alexander Sulzer was a member of the Panthers briefly during the 2010-11 season, recording one assist in nine games.

Drafted by the Sabres in the sixth round of the 1997 NHL Entry Draft, FLA D Brian Campbell played in Buffalo for parts of eight seasons (1999-00 – 2007-08). As a Sabre, Campbell tallied 176 points (32+144) in 391 games. Campbell was selected as an NHL All-Star in 2007 and 2008.

FLA RW Brad Boyes skated as a member of the Sabres from 2010-2012. During his two seasons in Buffalo, Boyes played in 86 games, recording 37 points (13+24).

BUF C Zenon Konopka played alongside Campbell for the Ottawa 67’s (OHL) during the 1998-99 season.

BUF RW Matt D’Agostini played together for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2009-10 season.

D’Agostini and Boyes were teammates for the St. Louis Blues from 2009-11.

FLA D Tom Gilbert and BUF RW Drew Stafford all represented the United States at the 2008 World Hockey Championship.

Konopka and BUF C Torrey Mitchell played alongside Gilbert for the Minnesota Wild during the 2012-13 season.

Gudbranson played with BUF LW Marcus Foligno for Team Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.

Campbell and BUF LW John Scott were teammates with the Chicago Blackhawks during the 2010-11 season.

FLA LW Tomas Fleischmann played for current BUF AC Joe Sacco as a member of the Colorado Avalanche during the 2010-11 season, when Sacco served as the team’s HC.

D’Agostini, Tallinder and FLA LW Krystofer Barch all played for the New Jersey Devils during the 2012-13 season.

BUF C Ville Leino played alongside FLA RW Tomas Kopecky during the 2008-09 season on the Detroit Red Wings.

Leino (Oct. 6, 1983) was born just one day before FLA LW Scottie Upshall.

Boyes and BUF D Christian Ehrhoff were teammates briefly with the San Jose Sharks during the 2003-04 season.

BUF AC Teppo Numminen played with FLA G Dan Ellis during the 2003-04 season.

BUF D Jamie McBain was teammates with Ellis for the Carolina Hurricanes during the 2012-13 season.

BUF G Michal Neuvirth and FLA LW Tomas Fleischmann both played for the Washington Capitals from 2008-2012.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Ennis (149), Stafford (136), Ehrhoff (129)
Hits: Foligno (164), Weber (157), Girgensons (135)
Blocked Shots: Weber (104), Ehrhoff (88), Myers (77)

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
51-60: 4-5-1 (9), 25/36, 7/36, 28/36
61-70: 1-1-0 (2), 5/5, 0/3, 8/9

OVERTIME RESULTS (3-4; 97-97 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)
January 28 vs. Washington: L, 5-4 (GWG-Green, 1:00)
February 26 vs. Boston: W, 5-4 (GWG-D’Agostini, 0:22)

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
Drew Stafford … 3 games … 500 career games played
Matt Ellis … 3 games … 300 career games played
Assists
Tyler Myers … 4 assists … 100 career assists
Tyler Ennis … 9 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Torrey Mitchell … 10 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A