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LAST GAME
Tuesday, December 9
Los Angeles 0 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Ennis
Goalie: Enroth (34 saves/34 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 0/2; Shots: Los Angeles 34 – Buffalo 16
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 82)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hackett (lower body, Oct. 9; injured reserve) – 28 games
Andrej Meszaros (upper body, Nov. 29) – 5 games
Tyson Strachan (lower body, Dec. 6) – 2 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Dec. 13: Florida at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 15: Ottawa at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 16: Buffalo at Winnipeg, 8 p.m.
Saturday. Dec. 20: Colorado at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 21: Buffalo at Boston, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
FLAMES at SABRES
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Flames this season.
- Next meeting: Tuesday, Jan. 27 in Calgary
- The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flames; 8-0-2 at home
- This is the 100th game all-time between Buffalo and Calgary/Atlanta; Buffalo has a 48-34-17 series record.
- The Sabres are 30-13-6 at home against the Flames all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 9-8-1 all-time on December 11.
- December 11, 1992: The Sabres get goals from seven different players in a 9-3 rout of the Hartford Whalers.
- December 11, 1993: Dominik Hasek records his third of five shutouts in a 12-game span, blanking the Hartford Whalers with a 25-save performance.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- Tonight’s game is the second in a four-game homestand for the Sabres, tying the team’s four-game stretch from Nov. 2 to 8 as the second-longest homestand of the season.
- The Sabres are 7-3-0 in their last 10 games. The last time the team had 14 points in a 10-game span was from March 19 to April 7, 2013 (6-2-2). Before the current stretch, they hadn’t won seven of 10 games since March 2012.
- Buffalo enters tonight with wins in three straight home games. A win tonight would give the team their first four-game winning streak at home since they won five in a row from Dec. 17, 2013 to Jan. 4, 2014.
SABRES-FLAMES
- The Sabres need a win tonight to avoid losing three straight games to the Flames for the first time since Jan. 12 to Oct. 6, 1996.
- The Sabres are 14-3-2 in their last 19 home games against the Flames, with the last regulation loss coming on March 15, 1996.
- With points in their last 10 home games against Calgary (8-0-2), the Sabres are two games from matching their series-record 12-game point streak in home games against the Flames set from March 11, 1979 to Nov. 10, 1985 (11-0-1).
- Chris Stewart leads all Sabres with 17 points (9+8) in 24 career games against the Flames.
- Both Sabres goaltenders have impressive career stat lines against the Flames:
- Jhonas Enroth: 1-0-1, 1.49 GAA, .946 SV%
- Michal Neuvirth: 2-0-0, 1.92 GAA, .934 SV%
MY NAME IS JHONAS
- Jhonas Enroth is expected to start in goal tonight in his 100th NHL appearance. He will become the 13th goaltender to play 100 games for the Sabres.
- In his last eight games, Enroth has compiled a 6-2-0 record, with a .946 save percentage and a 1.79 goals-against average.
- According to Elias Sports Bureau, Enroth’s fourth career shutout on Tuesday vs. LAK made him the first goaltender in NHL history to record his first four shutouts in 1-0 wins.
EXPANDED ROLE FOR MYERS
Entering Wednesday’s night’s games, Tyler Myers ranks ninth in the league with an average time on ice of 25:13 per game. He skated a career-high 31:34 on Nov. 29 at MTL and has averaged 25:56 in his last 10 games despite playing only two overtime games during that stretch. 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.
“BALSO PAR ZEMGU”
- Second-year Latvian forward Zemgus Girgensons ended week three of the 2015 NHL All-Star Game Fan Vote with 803,805 votes. This total makes him a distant leader, ahead of second-place Patrick Kane (375,758) and third-place Jonathan Toews (367,962). Nearly 82 percent of his total votes were cast by Latvians and 80 percent were from Sabres fans.
- His eight goals through the first 28 games this season match his total from his 70-game rookie season.
- Girgensons has topped 19 minutes of ice time in seven of his last eight games and leads all Sabres forwards with an average ice time of 18:32 per game.
IN THE LINE OF FIRE
- Josh Gorges ranks fifth in the NHL with 74 blocked shots entering play Wednesday despite missing seven games with a knee injury in November.
- Gorges has blocked 13.4 percent of all opponent shot attempts taken with him on the ice this season, the third-highest percentage among NHL defensemen who have played at least five games (see chart below) entering Monday’s games.
- 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.
|
Top NHL Defensemen, On-Ice Shot Blocking Percentage (min. five games played) |
|||||
| Rank | Player | Team | GP | BS | On-IceBS% |
| 1 | Christopher Tanev | VAN | 29 | 75 | 14.3% |
| 2 | Kris Russell | CGY | 27 | 83 | 13.4% |
| 3 | Josh Gorges | BUF | 21 | 74 | 13.4% |
| 4 | Michael Stone | ARI | 28 | 79 | 13.2% |
| 5 | Radko Gudas | TBL | 25 | 52 | 12.5% |
HEATING UP BEFORE WINTER
With a .500 record (6-6-1) in November, the Sabres had their best month since they went 5-5-2 in December 2013. The 13 points earned by the team last month was Buffalo’s highest total in a month since the team went 8-4-0 in April 2013.
BUF-CGY CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Paul Byron appeared in eight games for the Sabres during the 2010-11 season and recorded two points (1+1).
- Dennis Wideman was originally drafted by the Sabres in the eighth round (241st overall) of the 2002 NHL Draft, but did not play any games as a member of the club.
Tyler Ennis:
- Played with Kris Russell for the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) from 2005-2007.
- He and Deryk Engelland were both born in Edmonton, Alberta.
Jhonas Enroth:
- Played with Mikael Backlund for Team Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championship.
Marcus Foligno:
- Foligno (1991) and David Jones (1984) were both born on Aug. 10.
Brian Gionta:
- Played with Raphael Diaz for the Montreal Canadiens from 2011-2014.
Josh Gorges:
- Played with Raphael Diaz for the Montreal Canadiens from 2011-2014.
Cody Hodgson:
- He and Mark Giordano were both born in Toronto, Ontario.
- Played with Mason Raymond for the Vancouver Canucks from 2010-2012.
Cody McCormick:
- Played with David Jones for the Colorado Avalanche from 2007-2009.
Andrej Meszaros:
- Teammates with Brian McGrattan for the Ottawa Senators from 2005-2008.
- Played with Karri Ramo for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2008-09 season.
Torrey Mitchell:
- Mitchell (1985) and Joe Colborne (1990) were both born on Jan. 30.
Tyler Myers:
- Myers (1990) and Ladislav Smid (1986) were both born on Feb. 1.
- Represented Team Canada alongside Mark Giordano and Mason Raymond at the 2010 World Championship.
Michal Neuvirth:
- Played with Dennis Wideman for the Washington Capitals from 2010-2012.
Rasmus Ristolainen:
- Played with Markus Granlund for Team Finland at the 2013 World Junior Championship.
Chris Stewart:
- Played with Kris Russell for the St. Louis Blues from 2011-2013.
Nikita Zadorov:
- Shares a birthday with Markus Granlund. Granlund was born on April 16, 1993, and Zadorov was born on the same day two years later in 1995.
NHL Draft:
- Matt Moulson (263rd overall) and David Jones (288th overall) were both chosen in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Draft.
- Drew Stafford (13th overall), Andrej Meszaros (24th overall) and Ladislav Smid (7th overall) were all chosen in the first round of the 2004 NHL Draft.
- Cody Hodgson (10th overall), Tyler Myers (12th overall), Tyler Ennis (12th overall) and Joe Colborne (16th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft.
- Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall), Nikita Zadorov (16th overall) and Sean Monahan (6th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (92), Foligno (75), Weber (71)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (74), Myers (60), Weber (51)
Shots: Ennis (64), Moulson (60), Stewart (57)
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: 5-3-0 (10), 15/15, 2/21, 16/20
OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 97-99 all-time)
October 30 vs. Boston: L, 3-2 (GDG-Marchand, 1:20)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (4-1; 61-47 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)
November 29 at Montreal: W, 4-3 (GDG-Flynn)
December 2 vs. Tampa Bay: W, 2-1 (GDG-Hodgson)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Jhonas Enroth … 1 game … 100 career games played
Zemgus Girgensons … 2 games … 100 career games played
Cody McCormick … 3 games … 400 career games played
Tyler Ennis … 5 games … 300 career games played
Points
Torrey Mitchell … 3 points … 100 career points
Brian Gionta … 6 points … 500 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
N/A
