Game Preview: 3/18/14 at Calgary

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Sunday, March 16
Montreal 2 at Buffalo 0
Goals: N/A
Goalie: Enroth (20 saves/22 shots); Lieuwen (10 saves/10 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 3/3; Shots: Montreal 32 – Buffalo 29

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 198)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zemgus Girgensons (undisclosed, March 7) – 6 games
Chris Stewart (lower body, March 7) – 6 games
Torrey Mitchell (lower body, March 7) – 6 games
Alexander Sulzer (upper body, March 15) – 2 games
Tyler Myers (arm, March 15) – 2 games
Michal Neuvirth (lower body, March 16) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/13: Assigned D Chad Ruhwedel to Rochester (AHL); Recalled D Chad Ruhwedel from Rochester
3/15: Recalled D Rasmus Ristolainen from Rochester (AHL)
3/16: Recalled G Nathan Lieuwen from Rochester (AHL)
3/17: Recalled G Matt Hackett from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, March 20: Buffalo at Edmonton, 9:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 23: Buffalo at Vancouver, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, March 25: Buffalo at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 27: Buffalo at Nashville, 8 p.m.
Saturday, March 29: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at FLAMES

• This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Flames this season.
• Last meeting: Calgary defeated Buffalo, 2-1 (OT), in Buffalo on Dec. 14
• The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flames; 3-6-1 on the road
• This is the 99^th game all-time between Buffalo and Calgary; Buffalo has a 48-34-16 series record.
• The Sabres are 18-20-11 on the road against the Flames all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 6-8-4 all-time on March 18.
• March 18, 1997: The Sabres acquire Miroslav Satan from Edmonton in exchange for Barrie Moore and Craig Millar.
• March 18, 2003: Lindy Ruff earns his 211^th win as Sabres head coach, passing Scotty Bowman for most in franchise history.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres are seeking their first win in Calgary since Oct. 18, 2003 and will look to avoid their first ever four-game losing streak in Calgary/Atlanta.
• Neither of these teams has won consecutive games against the other since Calgary won two in a row on Jan. 3 and Oct. 31, 2002.
• The Flames have had the third-most players in the league suit up for them this season (39), trailing only the Sabres and the Oilers (42 each).
• Tyler Ennis has 13 points (6+7) in his last 15 games and 21 points (10+11) in his last 25 games.
• Drew Stafford has 16 points (9+7) in his last 18 games; he hasn’t played three games without recording a point since Dec. 31 to Jan. 15.

A NEW LOOK

• Only 10 Sabres players dressed for both the first game of the season and Sunday’s game vs. Montreal:
  • Ehrhoff, Ennis, Enroth, Flynn, Hodgson, Leino, Ristolainen, Stafford, Tallinder, Weber
• With Nathan Lieuwen’s NHL debut on Sunday vs. Montreal, 42 different players have played at least one game for the Sabres this season.
• According to Elias Sports Bureau, this is the highest total since they tied the franchise record with 43 players in the 1991-92 season:
  • 1991-92: 43 players, 1986-87: 43 players, 1988-89: 42 players, 2013-14: 42 players

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 (188 points in 287 games), putting him on a 54-point pace. He has 16 points (9+7) in 20 games so far in 2014 (.800 PTS/GP).

TRADE DEADLINE RECAP
A list of players and picks traded to and from the Sabres on March 5, sorted by position:

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-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 (96^th 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 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 (241^st overall) of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft, but did not play any games as a member of the club.

BUF G Michal Neuvirth played with Wideman for the Washington Capitals from 2010-12.

Stafford (13^th overall) and CGY D Ladislav Smid (7^th 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 Marcus Foligno (1991) and Jones (1984) were both born on August 10^th.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth and CGY C Mikael Backlund played together for Team Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championship.

D’Agostini and CGY LW Mike Cammalleri both played for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2009-10 season.

D’Agostini and CGY D Kris Russell were teammates for the St. Louis Blues during the 2011-12 season.

BUF C Cody Hodgson (10^th overall), BUF D Tyler Myers (12^th overall), BUF C Tyler Ennis (12^th overall) and CGY C Joe Colborne (16^th 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 Alexander Sulzer played with CGY D Dennis Wideman for the Florida Panthers during the 2010-11 season.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Ennis (167), Stafford (155), Hodgson/Ehrhoff (141)
Hits: Foligno (183), Weber (171), Girgensons (135)
Blocked Shots: Weber (119), Ehrhoff (92), McBain (83)

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: 1-7-0 (2), 10/23, 2/25, 28/34

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
Cody Hodgson … 3 games … 200 career games played
Brian Flynn … 8 games … 100 career games played
Assists
Tyler Myers … 4 assists … 100 career assists
Tyler Ennis … 7 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Drew Stafford … 7 points … 300 career points
Torrey Mitchell … 10 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A