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LAST GAME
Thursday, January 8
Buffalo 2 at Carolina 5
Goals: Varone (2)
Goalie: Enroth (26 saves/31 shots)
PP: 0/4; PK: 2/3; Shots: Carolina 31 – Buffalo 20
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 151)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Torrey Mitchell (lower body, Dec. 16; injured reserve) – 11 games
Marcus Foligno (undisclosed, Dec. 23; injured reserve) – 8 games
Brian Gionta (upper body, Dec. 23) – 8 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/4: Recalled F Tim Schaller and F Phil Varone from Rochester (AHL); Assigned F Johan Larsson to Rochester (AHL)
1/6: Activated D Tyler Myers from IR
UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Jan. 13: Detroit at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 15: Minnesota at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 17: Philadelphia at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 18: Buffalo at Detroit, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 27: Buffalo at Calgary, 9 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
LIGHTNING at SABRES
- This is the fourth of five meetings between the Sabres and Lightning this season.
- Next meeting: Tuesday, March 3 in Tampa Bay
- Last meeting: Tampa Bay defeated Buffalo, 5-1, in Buffalo on Dec. 31
- The Sabres are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Lightning; 5-5-0 on the road
- This is the 85th game all-time between Buffalo and Tampa Bay; Buffalo has a 51-26-7 series record.
- The Sabres are 27-12-3 on the road against the Lightning all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-7-4 all-time on January 9.
- The last three games on this date were decided in shootouts (2009, 2010, 2014).
- January 9, 1977: Andre Savard scores three times in a span of 6:25 in the first period to earn the fourth natural hat trick in franchise history and help the Sabres down the Cleveland Barons, 7-4, at the Aud.
- January 9, 2007: Danny Briere, Brian Campbell and Ryan Miller are announced as starters for the 2007 NHL All-Star Game.
TOPPING TAMPA
- In the last nine seasons, Buffalo has compiled a record of 24-12-2 (.658) against Tampa Bay. The Sabres have scored seven or more goals in a single game against the Lightning six times during that stretch.
- Buffalo’s franchise record of 51-26-7 (.649) against Tampa Bay is the team’s best all-time record against any Eastern Conference opponent. The team’s record against San Jose (22-6-5, .742) is the only better all-time series record.
- The Sabres’ 27-12-3 (.679) record at Tampa Bay is the team’s best road record against any opponent, edging their 6-3-0 (.667) record at Nashville. Their next best road record against an Eastern Conference opponent is their 41-23-10 (.622) mark at Washington.
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s 10th of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began last night with a 5-1 loss at CAR. The Sabres are 2-8-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 3-5-1 in the second game. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to- back sets is: four points (1), three points (0), two points (3), one point (1) and zero points (4).
ALL-STAR Z
- Second-year Latvian forward Zemgus Girgensons led all NHL players with 1,574,896 votes in the 2015 NHL All-Star Game Fan Vote and will become the 30th player in Sabres history to appear in the All-Star Game when he plays in this year’s installment on Jan. 25 in Columbus.
- Of the other 29 Sabres All-Stars, only five others were selected to appear in the game in either of their first two NHL seasons: Tom Barrasso, Phil Housley, Rick Martin, Gilbert Perreault, Christian Ruuttu
- With 11 goals this season, Girgensons has already bested his total of eight from his 70-game rookie season. He is two points from tying his 22-point output from last season.
- Girgensons leads all Sabres forwards with an average ice time of 18:53 per game this season.
LOGGING BIG MINUTES
- After last night’s game, Tyler Myers led all Sabres and ranked 10th in the league with an average time on ice of 25:15 per game.
- He skated a team-high 22:09 on Tuesday at NJD in his return from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for seven games and then led the team again with 24:38 of ice time last night at CAR.
- Myers has averaged 25:39 of ice time in his last 10 games despite playing only 13:10 in the game in which he sustained his injury. He entered that game having averaged 28:11 in the previous 10 games; it was the highest 10-game average of his career.
- 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.
IN THE LINE OF FIRE
- Josh Gorges ranks second in the NHL with 111 blocked shots despite missing nine games to injury this season.
- Gorges has blocked 12.8 percent of all opponent shot attempts taken with him on the ice this season, ranking in the top five among NHL defensemen who have faced at least 200 shot attempts. (Shot attempt data via war-on-ice.com)
- 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.
BUF-TBL CONNECTIONS
Former Lightning:
- Andrej Meszaros played for Tampa Bay from 2008-2010, registering 33 points (8+25) in 133 games.
Local Players:
- Ryan Callahan was born in Rochester, N.Y. and played for the Buffalo Lightning (OPJHL) during the 2001-02 season.
Danny Flynn:
- Coached Mark Barberio from 2007-2010 when he was a member of the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL).
Jhonas Enroth:
- Played with Victor Hedman for Sweden in the 2008 World Junior Championship. Sweden won the silver medal in the tournament. They also played together for Sweden at the 2012 World Championship.
Marcus Foligno:
- Played with Brett Connolly for Team Canada in the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.
Josh Gorges:
- Played with Matthew Carle and Evgeni Nabokov for the San Jose Sharks from 2005-2007.
Mikhail Grigorenko:
- Represented Team Russia alongside Nikita Nesterov at the 2012 and 2013 World Junior Championships.
Andrej Meszaros:
- Played with Matthew Carle for the Lightning during the 2008-09 season and again for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2012.
Torrey Mitchell:
- Mitchell, Matthew Carle and Evgeni Nabokov were all members of the San Jose Sharks during the 2007-08 season.
Matt Moulson:
- Played with Evgeni Nabokov for the New York Islanders from 2011-2013.
- He and Brian Boyle were both members of the Los Angeles Kings from 2007-2009.
Michal Neuvirth:
- Neuvirth (1988) and Mark Barberio (1990) were both born on March 23.
Drew Stafford:
- Played with Matthew Carle for the United States in the 2004 World Junior Championship.
- Played with Ryan Callahan for the United States in the 2005 World Junior Championship.
Chris Stewart:
- Played with Ben Bishop for the St. Louis Blues during the 2010-11 season.
- Played with Branden Morrow for the St. Louis Blues for part of the 2013-14 season.
Tyson Strachan:
- Played with Ben Bishop for the St. Louis Blues during the 2008-09 and 2010-11 seasons. They also played together from 2007-2011 for the Peoria Rivermen.
- Played with Jason Garrison for the Florida Panthers during the 2011-12 season.
Nikita Zadorov:
- He and Nikita Kucherov were both born in Moscow, Russia.
NHL Draft:
- Torrey Mitchell (126th overall) and Ryan Callahan (127th overall) were chosen with consecutive picks in the fourth round of the 2004 NHL Draft.
- The Sabres and Lightning combine to feature a total of four players who were drafted in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft: Cody Hodgson (10th overall), Tyler Myers (12th overall), Tyler Ennis (26th overall), and Steven Stamkos (1st overall).
- Nikita Zadorov (16th overall) and Jonathan Drouin (3rd overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (134), Foligno (92), Weber (89)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (111), Myers (75), Weber (73)
Shots: Ennis (102), Moulson (82), Girgensons (77)
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: 7-3-0 (14), 22/22, 2/25, 20/25
31-40: 2-7-1 (5), 21/44, 4/27, 19/31
41-50: 0-2-0 (0), 3/9, 1/6, 4/5
OVERTIME RESULTS (1-2; 98-100 all-time)
October 30 vs. Boston: L, 3-2 (GDG-Marchand, 1:20)
December 13 vs. Florida: W, 4-3 (GDG-Zadorov, 0:29)
December 21 at Boston: L, 4-3 (Eriksson, 2:14)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (6-1; 63-47 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)
December 15 vs. Ottawa: W, 5-2 (GDG-Moulson)
December 27 vs. NY Islanders: W, 4-3 (GDG-Ennis)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Josh Gorges … 7 games … 600 career games played
Points
Torrey Mitchell … 3 points … 100 career points
Brian Gionta … 4 points … 500 career points
Matt Moulson … 8 points … 300 career points
Tyler Ennis … 10 points … 200 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
N/A
