Game Preview: 3/20/14 at Edmonton

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Tuesday, March 18
Buffalo 1 at Calgary 2
Goals: Stafford
Goalie: Lieuwen (23 saves/26 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 1/1; Shots: Calgary 26 – Buffalo 14

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 204)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zemgus Girgensons (undisclosed, March 7) – 7 games
Chris Stewart (lower body, March 7) – 7 games
Alexander Sulzer (upper body, March 15) – 3 games
Tyler Myers (arm, March 15) – 3 games
Michal Neuvirth (lower body, March 16) – 2 games
Jhonas Enroth (lower body, March 18) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
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
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.
Tuesday, April 1: New Jersey at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at OILERS

• This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Oilers this season.
• Last meeting: Edmonton defeated Buffalo, 3-2, in Buffalo on Feb. 3
• The Sabres are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Oilers; 4-5-1 on the road.
• This is the 67^th game all-time between Buffalo and Edmonton; Buffalo has a 21-35-10 series record.
• The Sabres are 8-21-3 on the road against the Oilers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-8-1 all-time on March 20.
• March 20, 1977: The Sabres get goals from five different players, including two from Gilbert Perreault, as they defeat the Washington Capitals, 6-2, on the road.
• March 20, 1996: The Sabres acquire Jean-Luc Grand-Pierre, a second-round pick (Cory Sarich) and a third-round pick (Maxim Afinogenov) from St. Louis in exchange for Yuri Khmylev and an eighth-round pick (Andrei Podkonicky) to St. Louis.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres have outscored the Oilers, 28-13, in the last seven meetings between these teams.
• The Sabres and Oilers have each had 42 players suit up for them this season, tying for the most in the league. If Matt Hackett starts tonight, he will be the franchise-record 43^rd player to play for the Sabres this season.
• Three Sabres average at least a point per game in their limited experience against the Oilers: Drew Stafford (5 GP, 6+2), Mike Weber (3 GP, 2+2), Zemgus Girgensons (1 GP, 0+1).
• Tyler Ennis has 13 points (6+7) in his last 16 games and 21 points (10+11) in his last 26 games.
• Drew Stafford has 17 points (10+7) in his last 19 games; he hasn’t played three games without recording a point since Dec. 31 to Jan. 15.
• Brian Flynn is 25-for-38 (65.8%) on faceoffs in the last three games; Cody Hodgson is 12-for-17 (70.6%).

IT’S BEEN AWHILE
With a win, the Sabres will have won four straight matchups in Edmonton, with their last road loss to the Oilers coming on Oct. 16, 2003. Before the current streak, they had never won more than one in a row. Henrik Tallinder and Ryan Smyth are the only players on the current rosters to have played in that game.

A NEW LOOK

• Only nine Sabres players dressed for both the first game of the season and Tuesday’s game at Calgary:
  • Ehrhoff, Ennis, 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
• Matt Hackett is expected to start in net for the Sabres tonight. If he does, the team would tie the franchise record with 43 different players suiting up this season.

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 .656 (189 points in 288 games), putting him on a 54-point pace. He has 17 points (10+7) in 21 games so far in 2014 (.810 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-EDM CONNECTIONS
BUF C Cody Hodgson (10^th overall), BUF LW Tyler Ennis (26^th overall), BUF D Tyler Myers (12^th overall) and EDM RW Jordan Eberle (22^nd overall) were all drafted in the first-round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft.

Ennis was born in Edmonton, along with BUF LW John Scott and EDM D Andrew Ference.

BUF LW Marcus Foligno was born on August 10, 1991, exactly two years after EDM C Sam Gagner, who was born on August 10, 1989.

BUF C Zemgus Girgensons was selected in the first-round (14^th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, along with EDM RW Nail Yakupov (1^st overall).

Hodgson was born in Toronto, Ontario, along with EDM LW Luke Gazdic.

BUF C Zenon Konopka played with EDM LW Jesse Joensuu for the New York Islanders from 2009-2011.

BUF D Christian Ehrhoff was born on July 6, 1982, exactly eight years before EDM D Justin Schultz, who was born July 6, 1990.

BUF D Jamie McBain (63^rd overall), BUF D Mike Weber (57^th overall), BUF G Jhonas Enroth (46^thoverall), BUF G Michal Neuvirth (34^th overall), EDM D Jeff Petry (45^th overall) and EDM LW Jesse Joensuu (60^th overall) were all chosen in the second round of the 2006 NHL Entry Draft.

BUF D Henrik Tallinder played with EDM D Mark Fraser for the New Jersey Devils during the 2010-11 season.

BUF G Jhonas Enroth and EDM G Viktor Fasth both played for Team Sweden at the 2012 World Hockey Championship.

BUF G Michal Neuvirth was teammates with EDM C Matt Hendricks for the Washington Capitals from 2010-2013.

Neuvirth and EDM LW Taylor Hall both played for the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) during the 2007-08 season,

BUF D Alexander Sulzer played with EDM LW Ryan Jones for the Nashville Predators from 2008-2010.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Ennis (168), Stafford (156), Hodgson (144)
Hits: Foligno (188), Weber (173), Girgensons (135)
Blocked Shots: Weber (119), Ehrhoff (95), McBain (86)

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: 1-8-0 (2), 11/26, 2/27, 29/35

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 … 2 games … 200 career games played
Brian Flynn … 7 games … 100 career games played
Assists
Tyler Myers … 4 assists … 100 career assists
Tyler Ennis … 7 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Drew Stafford … 6 points … 300 career points
Torrey Mitchell … 10 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A