Game Preview: 10/14/14 at CAR

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Monday, October 13
Anaheim 5 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Ennis
Goalie: Neuvirth (39 saves/44 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 5/6; Shots: Anaheim 44 – Buffalo 19

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 13)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hackett (lower body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 3 games
Patrick Kaleta (upper body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 3 games
Jake McCabe (middle body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 3 games
Mark Pysyk (upper body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 3 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/10: Assigned F Johan Larsson to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Oct. 17: Florida at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 18: Boston at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 22: Buffalo at Anaheim, 10:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 23: Buffalo at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 25: Buffalo at San Jose, 4 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at HURRICANES

• This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Hurricanes this season.
• Next meeting: Thursday, Jan. 8 at Carolina
• The Sabres are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Hurricanes; 4-4-2 on the road.
• This is the 190^th game all-time between Buffalo and Carolina/Hartford; Buffalo has a 97-68-24 series record.
• The Sabres are 42-37-16 on the road against the Hurricanes/Whalers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 7-9-1 all-time on October 14.
• October 14, 1971: Mike Robitaille scores his first goal as a member of the Sabres.
• October 14, 2006: Chris Drury records his first and only hat trick in a Sabres uniform in 7-4 win over the New York Rangers.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres are looking for their first win at Carolina since Nov. 18, 2011. They will try to avoid their first five-game losing streak at Carolina/Hartford since they lost six in a row in Hartford from April 8, 1995 to April 7, 1997.
• Tyler Ennis enters tonight’s game on a two-game goal streak; Ennis has a point in each of his last four games against Carolina (3+1).
• Drew Stafford has recorded three assists in the last two games.
• Brian Gionta leads all Sabres with 26 points (10+16) in 35 career games against the Hurricanes.
• Matt Moulson became the 267^th active NHL player to appear in 400 NHL games yesterday vs. ANA.
• The NHL announced Monday that Buffalo will host the 2016 NHL Draft.

EXPANDED ROLE FOR MYERS
Tyler Myers has led all Sabres skaters in ice time through three games and ranked 10^th in the league after Monday’s game with an average of 25:24 per game. His 26:29 on Saturday at CHI was his highest total in a non-overtime game since his career-high 31:05 on Jan. 14, 2012 at NYI. Myers last led the Sabres in ice time in a season in his rookie season of 2009-10, when he averaged 23:44 per game.

ENNIS ON THE PK
Tyler Ennis scored his first career shorthanded goal Saturday at CHI. His 4:38 of shorthanded ice time through two games was already higher than his previous career-high of 3:12 in 82 games in 2010-11.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s first of 18 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began with a 5-1 loss yesterday vs. ANA. The Sabres were 4-9-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-8-4 in the second game last season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to- back sets last season was: four points (0), three points (1), two points (4), one point (3) and zero points (5).

A NEW LOOK
Only 10 of the 20 Sabres players who dressed for the first game of the 2013-14 season appeared on the team’s 2014-15 opening day roster. Only six players on this year’s opening day roster suited up for the team in the season-opener two years ago: Tyler Ennis, Jhonas Enroth, Marcus Foligno, Cody Hodgson, Tyler Myers and Drew Stafford

A FRESH FACE
With his debut on Thursday vs. CBJ, Sam Reinhart became the seventh 18-year-old ever to dress for the Sabres and the fourth to do so on opening day. The Sabres have now had an 18-year-old in the opening day lineup each of the last three years (2013-14: Rasmus Ristolainen; 2012-13: Mikhail Grigorenko).

YOUNGEST SABRES DEBUTS

FEARLESS LEADERS

• Brian Gionta has been selected to wear the captain’s “C” for the Sabres in 2014-15, becoming the 19^th full-season captain in franchise history (excludes rotating captaincies in 2003-04 and 2007-08).
• Gionta, who spent the last four seasons as captain of the Montreal Canadiens, will be the 27th player to wear the captain’s “C” for at least a one-month period.
• Josh Gorges and Matt Moulson were named the team’s alternate captains.

2014 PRESEASON

• Buffalo finished the preseason with a 2-3-1 record; 2-1-0 at home, 0-2-1 on the road
• Tyler Ennis (3 GP) and Chris Stewart (4 GP) tied for the team point lead with two goals and three assists each.
• Jhonas Enroth was 2-0-0 with a 0.50 GAA and .983 SV%, tying to lead all goaltenders with at least two full games played in both categories.
• The Sabres were 2-for-17 (11.8%) on the power play and 21-for-24 (87.5%) on the penalty kill.

2014-15 ROSTER NOTES
Of the 23 players on Buffalo’s opening night roster:

• 10 were originally drafted by the Sabres — seven were first-round Buffalo selections (Stafford, 2004; Myers and Ennis, 2008; Girgensons, 2012; Ristolainen and Zadorov, 2013; Reinhart, 2014), two were second-round picks (Enroth and Weber, 2006) and one was a fourth-round pick (Foligno, 2009)
• Six were acquired in trades: Deslauriers, Gorges, Hodgson, Mitchell, Neuvirth, Stewart
• Seven were signed as free agents: Benoit, Flynn, Gionta, Meszaros, McCormick, Moulson, Strachan
• 17 played in Buffalo at some point last season
• Six are new to the Sabres this season: Benoit, Gionta, Gorges, Meszaros, Reinhart, Strachan
• Three are opening the season on an NHL roster for the first time in their careers: Deslauriers, Reinhart, Zadorov

BUF-CAR CONNECTIONS
Andre Benoit:

• Played with Brad Malone for the Colorado Avalanche during the 2013-14 season.

Jhonas Enroth:         

• He and Brett Bellemore were both born on June 25, 1988.
• Played with Elias Lindholm for Team Sweden at the 2014 Olympics.

Cody Hodgson:

• He and Jeff Skinner were both born in Toronto, Ontario.

Cody McCormick:

• Played with Patrick Dwyer in 2006-07 for the Albany River Rats.

Michal Neuvirth:

• Played with Alex Semin from 2008-2012 for the Washington Capitals.

Drew Stafford:

• Represented the United States alongside Tim Gleason at the 2008 World Championship.

Tyson Strachan:

• Played with Patrick Dwyer in 2006-07 for the Albany River Rats.

Chris Stewart:

• He and Jay McClement were both sent to the St. Louis Blues as part of the Feb. 19, 2011 trade that saw Erik Johnson go to the Colorado Avalanche.
• Represented Team Canada alongside Jeff Skinner at the 2011 World Championship.

Former Sabres:         

• Nathan Gerbe was a member of the Sabres for five seasons from 2008-2013. He was selected by Buffalo in the fifth round (142^nd overall) of the 2005 NHL Entry Draft and tallied 72 points (29+43) in 188 games with the club.
• Andrej Sekera spent seven seasons as a member of the Sabres from 2006-2013. Initially drafted by Buffalo in the third round (71^st overall) of the 2004 NHL Entry Draft, Sekera appeared in 339 career games, over which he compiled 92 points (17+75).

2013 Draft:                  

• Elias Lindholm (5th overall), Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall), and Nikita Zadorov (16th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2013 Entry Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (12), Weber (10), Foligno (7)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (13), Benoit (8), Weber (6)
Shots: Stewart (9), Girgensons (7), Benoit/Moulson/Ennis (5)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 0-3-0 (0), 4/14, 0/8, 11/14

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-0; 97-98 all-time)
N/A

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-0; 57-46 all-time)
N/A

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Torrey Mitchell … 5 games … 100 career games played
Assists
Tyler Ennis … 3 assists … 100 career assists
Tyler Myers … 3 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Josh Gorges … 2 points … 100 career points
Torrey Mitchell … 9 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
Drew Stafford … 300 career points … Oct. 11 at CHI
Matt Moulson … 400 career games played … Oct. 13 vs. ANA