Game Preview: 1/27/15 at CGY

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Sunday, January 18
Buffalo 4 at Detroit 6
Goals: Ennis (2), Stafford, Stewart
Goalie: Enroth (20 saves/26 shots)
PP: 1/3; PK: 2/4; Shots: Detroit 26 – Buffalo 15

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 169)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Marcus Foligno (undisclosed, Dec. 23; injured reserve) – 13 games
Brian Gionta (upper body, Dec. 23; injured reserve) – 13 games
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 4 games
Mike Weber (undisclosed, Jan. 17) – 2 games
Michal Neuvirth (lower body, Jan. 27) – 0 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/26: Recalled F Matt Ellis and G Matt Hackett from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Thursday, Feb. 5: St. Louis at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 7: Dallas at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at FLAMES

• This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Flames this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Calgary, 4-3, in Buffalo on Dec. 11
• The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flames; 3-6-1 on the road.
• This is the 101st game all-time between Buffalo and Calgary/Atlanta; Buffalo has a 49-34-17 series record.
• The Sabres are 18-21-11 on the road against the Flames all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-12-4 all-time on January 27.
• January 18, 1995: Dale Hawerchuk scores the 7,000th goal in franchise history in a 7-2 Sabres win at home against Washington.
• January 18, 2009: Drew Stafford scores his second NHL hat trick in a 10-2 Sabres victory at Edmonton.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight’s game is the first in a three-game western swing. The team will then visit Montreal before returning home for a five-game homestand.
• Michal Neuvirth sustained a lower-body injury during the All-Star break and is expected to miss the entire western trip.
• With a win tonight, Buffalo would have two wins in a season against Calgary for the first time since 1999-00. The teams have met twice in a season two times since then, with the teams splitting one set (2001-02) and Calgary sweeping the other (2013-14).
• The Sabres are seeking their first win in Calgary since Oct. 18, 2003 and will look to avoid their first ever five-game losing streak in Calgary/Atlanta. Their last five-game winless streak in Calgary took place between March 12, 1988 and Nov. 17, 1990 (0-3-2).
• Matt Moulson has six goals in six career games against the Flames, including three in his last two.
• Drew Stafford has a point in five of seven career games against Calgary (4+1), including each of his last two (1+1).
• Zemgus Girgensons has three points (1+2) in two career games against Calgary.
• Chris Stewart leads all Sabres with 17 points (9+8) in 25 career games against the Flames.
• Jhonas Enroth is 2-0-1 in three career games against Calgary with a .941 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average.

BACK FROM THE BREAK*
The Sabres return to action tonight after an eight-day layoff. Buffalo is 16-16-4 all-time in the first game back from the All-Star break. The Sabres are 3-2 in such games since 2005-06, outscoring their opponents by a margin of 21-11. Drew Stafford has scored four goals in the four games following an NHL All-Star break in which he has played, including a hat trick on Jan. 27, 2009 at Edmonton.

FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK*
Buffalo is 545-403-186 (.563) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 94-50-24 (.631) in those games since the lockout.

*Note: These totals do not include games after breaks for the Olympic Games.

LOGGING BIG MINUTES

• Tyler Myers leads all Sabres and ranks eighth in the league with an average time on ice of 25:17 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 five of six games played since then, including 29:07 in his last game before the All-Star break.
• Myers has averaged 24:48 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 127 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 third among NHL defensemen who have played at least 20 games. (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-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:

• 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.

Chris Stewart:

• Played with Kris Russell for the St. Louis Blues from 2011-2013

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 (seventh overall) were all chosen in the first round of the 2004 NHL Draft.
• Cody Hodgson (10th overall), Tyler Myers (12th overall), Tyler Ennis (26th overall) and Joe Colborne (16th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft.
• Rasmus Ristolainen (eighth overall), Nikita Zadorov (16th overall) and Sean Monahan (sixth overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (152), Weber (94), Girgensons (93)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (127), Weber (84), Myers (76)
Shots: Ennis (113), Moulson (88), Girgensons (85)

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: 0-7-0 (0), 12/31, 3/20, 18/26

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 … 2 games … 600 career games played
Points
Torrey Mitchell … 3 points … 100 career points
Brian Gionta … 4 points … 500 career points
Matt Moulson … 5 points … 300 career points
Tyler Ennis … 6 points … 200 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A