Game Preview: 10/23/14 at LAK

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Wednesday, October 22
Buffalo 1 at Anaheim 4
Goals: Ennis
Goalie: Neuvirth (30 saves/33 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 4/4; Shots: Anaheim 34 – Buffalo 23

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 24)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hackett (lower body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 7 games
Patrick Kaleta (upper body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 7 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Oct. 25: Buffalo at San Jose, 4 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 28: Buffalo at Toronto, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 30: Boston at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 1: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 2: Detroit at Buffalo, 5 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at KINGS

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Kings this season.
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 9 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Kings; 2-6-2 on the road
• This is the 116^th game all-time between Buffalo and Los Angeles; Buffalo has a 56-40-19 series record.
• The Sabres are 24-24-10 on the road against the Kings all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 10-7-1 all-time on October 23.
• October 23, 1983: The Sabres top the Winnipeg Jets, 5-2, to earn the 500^th win in franchise history.
• October 23, 1992: Dominik Hasek relieves Daren Puppa to start the third period vs. San Jose and earns his first of 234 wins with the Sabres.
• October 23, 2003: Martin Biron stops 24 of 25 Kings shots as the Sabres earn their first win in Los Angeles since 1996.
• October 23, 2013: Nikita Zadorov scores his first career goal, becoming the second-youngest player in Sabres history to score a goal.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight’s game is the second of a three-game west coast road trip for the Sabres.
• The Sabres are seeking their first win in Los Angeles in exactly 11 years (Oct. 23, 2003).
• If he is in the lineup, Torrey Mitchell will appear in his 400^th NHL game tonight.
• Matt Moulson has five points (2+3) in his last four games against the Kings.
• Chris Stewart leads all Sabres with eight points (4+4) in 17 career games against the Kings.

HOME-ICE ADVANTAGE
With the exception of the 2011 NHL Premiere* meeting between these teams, the home team has won the last eight games between the Sabres and the Kings. The last time one of these teams won in the other team’s arena was a 5-1 Sabres victory on Oct. 23, 2003 – 11 years ago today – when the Sabres snapped a six-game winless streak (0-5-1) in road games against the Kings that dated back to March 13, 1996 (6-2 Sabres win).

*The Sabres topped the Kings, 4-2, in a road game on Oct. 8, 2011, but the game was held in Berlin, Germany as part of the 2011 NHL Premiere series.

EXPANDED ROLE FOR MYERS
Through seven games, Tyler Myers ranks 12^th in the league with an average time on ice of 25:12 per game. His 29:25 last Tuesday at CAR was his highest total 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.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s third of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, after the team’s 4-1 loss at Anaheim last night. The Sabres are 0-3-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-1-0 in the second game. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to- back sets is: four points (0), three points (0), two points (1), one point (0) and zero points (1).

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.

2014-15 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-LAK CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Robyn Regehr played for the Sabres from 2011-2013, tallying seven points (1+6) in 105 games.
• Braden McNabb was a part of the Sabres’ organization for parts of five seasons before being traded last season. Selected by Buffalo in the third round (66^th overall) of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, McNabb played 37 games for the Sabres, totaling eight points (1+7). He also tallied 95 points (17+78) in 145 games for the Rochester Americans.

Ted Nolan:

• Ted’s son Jordan Nolan plays center for the Kings and was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, less than an hour from Buffalo.

Arturs Irbe:

• Played with Justin Williams for the Carolina Hurricanes during the 2003-04 season.

Brian Flynn:

• Shares a birthday with Alec Martinez. Martinez was born on July 26, 1987, while Flynn was born one year later on July 26, 1988.

Josh Gorges:

• Played with Jeff Carter for Team Canada at the 2004 World Junior Championship.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played with Mike Richards and Jeff Carter for the Philadelphia Flyers during the 2010-11 season.

Matt Moulson:

• Played for the Kings from 2007-09, tallying 10 points over 29 games (6+4).
• He is the brother-in-law of Jonathan Quick.

Michal Neuvirth:

• Played with Jordan Nolan for the Windsor Spitfires during the 2007-08 season.

Drew Stafford:

• Teammates with Dustin Brown for the United States at the 2006, 2008 and 2009 World Hockey Championships.
• He and Matt Greene played together at the University of North Dakota for two seasons (2003-2005) and also for Team USA during the 2008 World Hockey Championship.

Mike Weber:        

• Played with Jordan Nolan for the Windsor Spitfires during the 2006-07 season.

London Trio:

• Cody McCormick, Jeff Carter and Drew Doughty were all born in London, Ontario.

NHL Entry Draft:

• Cody Hodgson, Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis and Drew Doughty were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Entry Draft. Hodgson, selected by Vancouver, was the 10^th overall selection, Myers was the 12^th overall pick, Doughty was the 2^nd overall pick and Ennis was chosen 26^th
• Nicolas Deslauriers and Braden McNabb, who were involved in the same trade last season, were both third-round selections in the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. McNabb went 66^th overall to the Sabres, and Deslauriers was taken 84^th overall by the Kings.
• Zemgus Girgensons (14^th overall) and Tanner Pearson (30^th overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Weber (24), Deslauriers (20), Foligno (17)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (36), Weber (13), Benoit (12)
Shots: Stewart (19), Myers (17), Girgensons/Moulson (15)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 1-6-0 (2), 9/26, 0/24, 26/29

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

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-0; 58-46 all-time)
October 14 at Carolina: W, 4-3 (GDG-Girgensons)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Torrey Mitchell … 1 game … 400 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 … 8 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A