Game Preview: 11/29/14 at MTL

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Friday, November 28
Montreal 1 at Buffalo 2
Goals: Ennis, Moulson
Goalie: Enroth (30 saves/31 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 2/3; Shots: Montreal 31 – Buffalo 25

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 64)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hackett (lower body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 23 games
Josh Gorges (knee, Nov. 13; injured reserve) – 6 games
Cody McCormick (upper body; Nov. 26) – 2 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/23: Assigned G Nathan Lieuwen to Rochester (AHL)
11/28: Signed F Jean Dupuy to a three-year, entry-level contract

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Dec. 2: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 4: Buffalo at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 6: Buffalo at Florida, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 9: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 11: Calgary at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at CANADIENS           

• This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Canadiens this season.
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Feb. 3 in Montreal
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Montreal, 2-1, in Buffalo on Nov. 28
• The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Canadiens; 7-3-0 on the road
• This is the 265^th game all-time between Buffalo and Montreal; Buffalo has a 120-106-38 series record.
• The Sabres are 50-69-13 on the road against the Canadiens all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-11-0 all-time on November 29.
• November 29, 1981: Lindy Ruff records his first career hat trick in a 5-2 win at home against the Islanders.
• November 29, 1993: Dominik Hasek picks up his first shutout as a member of the Sabres, stopping all 24 Toronto shots in a 3-0 win at Maple Leaf Gardens.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres enter tonight’s game having gained at least a point in their last five divisional matchups (3-0-2) for the first time since they had points in six in a row from Feb. 26 to March 23, 2013 when they went 5-0-1.
• The Sabres have gone 12-6-2 in their last 20 games against the Canadiens.
• With last night’s win, Buffalo now has more wins against Montreal (120) than against any other NHL team. The Sabres have 119 wins over the Bruins, but have played 11 more games against Boston than Montreal.
• If he plays tonight, former Montreal captain Brian Gionta will play in his 800^th career NHL game against his former club. Gionta also leads the Sabres with 18 career points (11+7) in 26 games against the Canadiens.
• Michal Neuvirth is 5-3-1 in 10 career games against the Canadiens, with a .928 save percentage and a 2.10 goals-against average.

HOME-AND-HOME

• The Sabres and Canadiens will close their 25^th all-time home-and-home set tonight, and their first since Nov. 23 and 24, 2007. Buffalo is 17-22-10 all-time in home-and-home sets against Montreal.
• Buffalo is 6-16-2 all-time in the road portion of the home-and-home.
• When the second game of a Sabres and Canadiens home-and-home is played in Montreal, the Sabres are 4-11-1.
• Overall, the Sabres have won the last five meetings as part of a home-and-home with the Canadiens and are 6-0-1 in the last four sets.
• Buffalo’s points breakdown in the 24 previous home-and-home sets against Montreal is: four points (2), three points (5), two points (7), one point (5) and zero points (5).

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s sixth of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began with a 2-1 win vs. MTL last night. The Sabres are 1-5-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 2-3-0 in the second game. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to- back sets is: four points (0), three points (0), two points (2), one point (0) and zero points (3).

MY NAME IS JHONAS
Jhonas Enroth hasn’t allowed an even-strength goal in his last 268:35 on the ice, posting a 1.37 goals-against average and a .959 save percentage in his last four games. His .959 save percentage is good for the second-best four-game stretch of his career, trailing only his .963 mark from Nov. 2 to Nov. 11, 2011.

WHO’S HOT?

• Brian Gionta has four points (2+2) in his last four games.
• Tyler Ennis has 12 points (4+8) in his last 13 games.
• Matt Moulson has nine points (4+5) in his last nine games.

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, is the 27th player to wear the captain’s “C” for at least a one-month period.
• Josh Gorges and Matt Moulson have been 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) in 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) in 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.
• Teamed with Sergei Gonchar for the Ottawa Senators during the 2010-11 and 2012-13 seasons.
• Played with P.A. Parenteau for the Colorado Avalanche during the 2013-14 season.

Tyler Ennis:

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

Cody Hodgson:

• He and P.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 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 P.A. Parenteau for the New York Islanders from 2010-2012.

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 P.K. Subban all represented Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

NHL Draft:

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

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (75), Foligno (63), Weber (62)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (60), Myers (45), Weber (40)
Shots: Stewart/Ennis (50), Moulson (48), Stafford (44)

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: 3-5-2 (8), 23/36, 4/27, 28/39
21-30: 2-1-0 (4), 6/3, 1/9, 4/7

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

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (2-1; 59-47 all-time)
October 14 at Carolina: W, 4-3 (GDG-Girgensons)
November 2 vs. Detroit: W, 3-2 (GDG-Girgensons)
November 5 vs. Montreal: L, 2-1 (GDG-Parenteau)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Brian Gionta … 1 game … 800 career games played
Jhonas Enroth … 5 games … 100 career games played
Cody McCormick … 7 games … 400 career games played
Zemgus Girgensons … 7 games … 100 career games played
Points
Josh Gorges … 1 point … 100 career points
Torrey Mitchell … 5 points … 100 career points
Brian Gionta … 8 points … 500 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
Andrej Meszaros … 600^th NHL game … Nov. 22 at WSH