Game Preview: 11/5/14 vs. MTL

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Sunday, November 2
Detroit 2 at Buffalo 3 (SO)
Goals: Flynn, Stewart; GDG-Girgensons
Goalie: Neuvirth (36 saves/38 shots)
PP: 0/4; PK: 4/4; Shots: Detroit 38 – Buffalo 21

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 35)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hackett (lower body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 12 games
Patrick Kaleta (upper body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 12 games
Marcus Foligno (upper body, Nov. 2) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/31: Assigned F Sam Reinhart to Kootenay (WHL)
11/2: Recalled F Johan Larsson from Rochester (AHL); Signed F Justin Bailey to a three-year, entry-level contact

UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Nov. 7: Edmonton at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 8: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 11: Buffalo at St. Louis, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 13: Buffalo at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 15: Toronto at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
CANADIENS at SABRES

• This is the first of four meetings between the Sabres and Canadiens this season.
• Next meeting: Friday, Nov. 28 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Canadiens; 4-5-1 at home
• This is the 263^rd game all-time between Buffalo and Montreal; Buffalo has a 119-106-37 series record.
• The Sabres are 69-37-24 at home against the Canadiens all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-9-2 all-time on November 5.
• November 5, 1970: Paul Andrea is stopped by Vancouver goaltender Dunc Wilson on the first penalty shot in Sabres history.
• November 5, 2006: Drew Stafford makes his NHL debut against the New York Rangers and records an assist on Daniel Briere’s game-winning overtime goal, becoming just the second player in league history to pick up his first NHL point in the overtime period of his NHL debut.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres have gone 11-6-1 in their last 18 games against the Canadiens, but need a win tonight to avoid losing six straight games to the Habs for the first time in franchise history.
• The Sabres have 119 wins in 262 games against the Canadiens, tying their franchise-record win total against the Bruins, who they have played 274 times.
• Michal Neuvirth is 5-3-0 in nine career games against the Canadiens, with a .923 save percentage and a 2.25 goals-against average.
• Brian Gionta leads the Sabres with 18 career points (11+7) in 24 games against the Canadiens.
• The Sabres need a win tonight to avoid tying their longest home-losing streak against the Canadiens (four games). The Sabres have lost four straight home games to the Canadiens once before: Feb. 15, 1985 to Nov. 29, 1985.
• Brian Gionta and Josh Gorges will face the Canadiens for the first time since leaving Montreal this year.
• The Sabres are seeking consecutive wins for the first time since they won consecutive home games on Feb. 26 and Feb. 28.

IN THE LINE OF FIRE

• Josh Gorges has blocked an NHL-best 56 shots, 16 more than the next highest total (Mark Giordano, CGY – 40 BS in 13 GP) through Tuesday’s games. Gorges has blocked 14.7 percent of all opponent shot attempts taken with him on the ice this season, the second-highest percentage among NHL defensemen who have faced at least 100 shot attempts (see chart below).
• His best full-season on-ice shot blocking percentage was 13.0 percent in 2011-12 with Montreal. No NHL-regular defenseman has topped 14 percent in a full season since the league started counting blocked shots in 2005-06.

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.

BUF-MTL CONNECTIONS
Former Canadiens:

• Brian Gionta played for the Canadiens from 2009-2014, registering 173 points (97+76) over 303 games played. He also served as the team’s captain from 2010-2014.
• Josh Gorges was a member of the Canadiens from 2006-2014, registering 88 points (13+75) over 464 games played.

Andre Benoit:            

• Played for the Hamilton Bulldogs from 2005-2007 and again during the 2009-10 season while he was a member of the Montreal Canadiens organization. Benoit totaled 93 points (23+70) in 212 games for the Bulldogs but never dressed for Montreal.
• Played with A. Parenteau for the Colorado Avalanche during the 2013-14 season.

Tyler Ennis:

• He and Brendan Gallagher were both born in Edmonton, Alberta.

Josh Gorges:

• Played with Travis Moen for the Kelowna Rockets (WHL) from 2000-2002, before being reunited with the Canadiens from 2009-2014.

Cody Hodgson:

• He and K. Subban were both born in Toronto, Ontario.
• Teammates with Manny Malhotra for the Vancouver Canucks from 2010-2012. Dale Weise joined them on the Canucks during the 2011-12 season.

Cody McCormick:

• He and Brandon Prust were both born in London, Ontario.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played with Dustin Tokarski for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2009-10 season.

Torrey Mitchell:

• He was born in Montreal.
• Played with Travis Moen for the San Jose Sharks during the 2008-09 season.
• Played with Manny Malhotra for the San Jose Sharks during the 2009-10 season.
• Played alongside Tom Gilbert for the Minnesota Wild during the 2012-13 season.

Matt Moulson:

• Played with A. Parenteau for the New York Islanders from 2010-2012.

Tyler Myers:

• Played with Rene Bourque for Team Canada at the 2010 World Championship.

Tyson Strachan:

• Played with Lars Eller for the Peoria Rivermen during the 2009-10 season. The duo also played one game together for the St. Louis Blues that season.
• Played with Mike Weaver for the St. Louis Blues from 2008-2010 and for the Florida Panthers from 2011-2013.

Drew Stafford:

• He and Alex Galchenyuk were both born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
• Played with Tom Gilbert for the United States at the 2008 World Hockey Championship.

2009 World Juniors:

• Cody Hodgson, Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis and K. Subban all represented Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

NHL Draft:

• Zemgus Girgensons (14^th overall) C Alex Galchenyuk (3^rd overall) were both first-round selections in the 2012 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (39), Weber (37), Foligno (36)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (56), Weber (27), Benoit (23)
Shots: Stewart (32), Myers (25), Moulson/Girgensons (24)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 2-8-0 (2), 11/33, 0/32, 33/39
11-20: 1-0-1 (3), 5/5, 1/6, 6/6

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 97-99 all-time)
October 30 vs. Boston: L, 3-2 (GDG-Marchand, 1:20)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (2-0; 59-46 all-time)
October 14 at Carolina: W, 4-3 (GDG-Girgensons)
November 2 vs. Detroit: W, 3-2 (GDG-Girgensons)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Andrej Meszaros … 5 games … 600 career games played
Chris Stewart … 6 games … 400 career games played
Assists
Tyler Ennis … 1 assist … 100 career assists
Tyler Myers … 2 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Josh Gorges … 2 points … 100 career points
Torrey Mitchell … 7 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A