Game Preview: 1/17/15 vs. PHI

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Thursday, January 15
Minnesota 7 at Buffalo 0
Goals: N/A
Goalie: Enroth (30 saves/37 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 4/6; Shots: Minnesota 37 – Buffalo 18

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 161)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Marcus Foligno (undisclosed, Dec. 23; injured reserve) – 11 games
Brian Gionta (upper body, Dec. 23; injured reserve) – 11 games
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 2 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/12: Recalled F Zac Dalpe and F Phil Varone from Rochester (AHL)
1/13: Recalled F Matt Ellis from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Brian Gionta and F Cody McCormick on IR
1/15: Assigned F Zac Dalpe to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Sunday, Jan. 18: Buffalo at Detroit, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 27: Buffalo at Calgary, 9 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 29: Buffalo at Edmonton, 9:30 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 30: Buffalo at Vancouver, 10 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 3: Buffalo at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
FLYERS at SABRES

• This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Flyers this season.
• Last meeting: Philadelphia defeated Buffalo, 5-2, in Philadelphia on April 6
• Next meeting: Sunday, Feb. 15 Buffalo
• The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flyers; 4-5-1 at home.
• This is the 165th game all-time between Buffalo and Philadelphia; Buffalo has a 63-78-23 series record.
• The Sabres are 40-30-10 at home against the Flyers all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 8-7-1 all-time on January 17.
• January 17, 1982: The Sabres get goals from seven different players (Sauve, Ruff, Peterson, McCourt, Ramsey, Seiling, Lambert) in a 7-1 home win against the Hartford Whalers.
• January 17, 2000: Martin Biron stops all 17 Anaheim shots to record his second of three shutouts in an eight-game span as the Sabres top the Mighty Ducks, 5-0.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight’s game marks the final game of a three-game home stand. After tonight, the Sabres will not play at First Niagara Center again until Feb. 5 vs. STL.
• The Sabres enter tonight’s game looking to break a three-game losing streak against Philadelphia.
• Cody Hodgson has recorded a goal and an assist in each of his last two games against the Flyers.
• Tyler Ennis enters tonight’s game with points in his last three games against Philadelphia (1+2).
• Drew Stafford leads all active Sabres with 11 points (5+6) in 24 career games against the Flyers.
• Nicolas Deslauriers was tied for fifth in the NHL with 146 hits entering play Friday.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s 11th of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which concludes tomorrow at DET. The Sabres are 2-8-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 3-6-1 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 (5).

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 18:59 per game this season.

LOGGING BIG MINUTES

• Entering Friday night’s games, Tyler Myers led all Sabres and ranked 11th in the league with an average time on ice of 25:07 per game.
• He skated a team-high 22:09 on Jan. 6 at NJD in his return from a lower-body injury that sidelined him for seven games and has topped 23 minutes in three of four games played since then.
• Myers has averaged 24:51 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 120 blocked shots despite missing nine games to injury this season.
• Gorges has blocked 12.7 percent of all opponent shot attempts taken with him on the ice this season, ranking third among NHL defensemen who have played at least 20 games entering play Friday. (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-PHI CONNECTIONS
Former Flyers:

• Andrej Meszaros played for the Flyers from 2010-2014, tallying 76 points (20+56) in 192 games.

Ted Nolan:

• Coached Andrew MacDonald for the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) during the 2005-06 season.

Jhonas Enroth:

• He and Nicklas Grossman were both born in Stockholm, Sweden.

Marcus Foligno:

• Played with Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier for Team Canada in the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship, which took place in Buffalo.

Josh Gorges:         

• Played with Mark Streit for Montreal Canadiens from 2006-2009.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played with Vincent Lecavalier for the Tampa Bay Lightning from 2008-2010.  The two were also reunited with the Flyers during the 2013-14 season.
• He and Ray Emery were teammates for the Ottawa Senators from 2005-2008.

Matt Moulson:

• Played with D Andrew MacDonald for the New York Islanders from 2009-2014. Mark Streit was also on the team from 2009-2013.
• He and Wayne Simmonds both played for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2008-09 season.

Tyler Myers:

• Played with Luke Schenn for the Kelowna Rockets (WHL) from 2005-2008.
• Represented Team Canada alongside Michael Del Zotto at the 2010 World Championship.

Michal Neuvirth:

• Played with Michael Del Zotto for the Oshawa Generals (OHL) for part of the 2007-08 season.
• Represented the Czech Republic alongside Jakub Voracek at the 2008 World Junior Championship.

Tyson Strachan:

• Played with Carlo Colaiacovo for the St. Louis Blues from 2008-2011.

Chris Stewart:

• Played with Carlo Colaiacovo for the St. Louis Blues during the 2011-12 season and again for part of the 2013-14 campaign.
• Played with Luke Schenn for Team Canada at the 2011 World Championship.

Mike Weber:

• Weber and RJ Umberger were both born in Pittsburgh, Pa.

NHL Draft:

• Tyler Ennis (26th overall), Tyler Myers (12th overall), Cody Hodgson (10th overall), Luke Schenn (5th overall) and Michael Del Zotto (20th) overall were all first-round selections in the 2008 NHL Draft. Ennis, Hogdson, Myers and Schenn were also teammates with Team Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.
• Zemgus Girgensons and Scott Laughton were both first-round draft picks in the 2012 NHL Draft. Girgensons was selected 14th overall, and Laughton went 20th overall.

2014 World Championship:

• Tonight’s game will feature five players from Team Canada’s 2014 World Championship roster. Sabres Cody Hodgson and Tyler Myers teamed with Flyers Braydon Coburn, Matt Read and Brayden Schenn to represent their country at the tournament.

Toronto Trio:

• Cody Hodgson, Chris Stewart and Carlo Colaiacovo were all born in Toronto, Ontario.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (146), Weber (94), Foligno (92)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (120), Weber (84), Myers (74)
Shots: Ennis (109), Moulson (88), Girgensons (81)

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: 0-5-0 (0), 5/21, 1/14, 15/19

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 … 4 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