Game Preview: 2/5/15 vs. STL

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

Game Notes NHL Stats Press Clips

LAST GAME
Tuesday, February 3
Buffalo 3 at Montreal 2
Goals: Stafford, Moulson, Gionta
Goalie: Enroth (32 saves/34 shots)
PP: 0/1; PK: 2/2; Shots: Montreal 34 – Buffalo 18

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 181)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed

Marcus Foligno (undisclosed, Dec. 23; injured reserve) – 17 games
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 8 games
Michal Neuvirth (lower body, Jan. 27) – 4 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Feb. 7:
Dallas at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 8: NY Islanders at Buffalo, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 10: Ottawa at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 15: Philadelphia at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 17: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
BLUES at SABRES

  • This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Blues this season.
  • Last meeting: St. Louis defeated Buffalo, 6-1, in St. Louis on Nov. 11
  • The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Blues; 1-8-1 at home.
  • This is the 112th game all-time between Buffalo and St. Louis; Buffalo has a 45-51-15 series record.
  • The Sabres are 30-20-6 on the road against the Blues all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

  • The Sabres are 6-6-3 all-time on February 5.
  • February 5, 1981: Don Edwards makes 31 saves in his 14th and final shutout as a member of the Sabres, as Buffalo defeats Philadelphia, 4-0.
  • February 5, 1983: Bob Sauve and Dan Bouchard make 22 saves each as the Sabres and Nordiques battle to the third of 11 scoreless ties in franchise history.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

  • Tonight’s game will begin stretch of four home games in six days for the Sabres.
  • Michal Neuvirth is out of the lineup with a lower-body injury sustained during the All-Star break.
  • The Sabres are 5-for-16 on the power play in their last six games.
  • Nikita Zadorov has a point in each of his last three games (0+4). No Sabres defenseman has had points in four straight games this season.
  • Chris Stewart leads all Sabres with 15 points (8+7) in 10 career games against St. Louis.
  • The Sabres need a win tonight to halt a five-game losing streak against the Blues.
  • Tyler Ennis has a point in each of his last three games against St. Louis (2+1).

EARLY LEADS
The Sabres have scored first in each of their last six games. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Sabres had not accomplished this feat since they scored first in nine straight games from Feb. 16 to March 3, 2012.

MR. 500
Brian Gionta
needs one point to become the 60th active NHL player to record 500 career points. The last player to reach this milestone as a member of the Sabres was Miroslav Satan, who recorded his 500th NHL point on Feb. 16, 2004.

STEWART HEATING UP
Chris Stewart
has at least a point in 12 of his last 20 games, totaling of 14 points (6+8) during that stretch with an average ice time of 16:12 per game. His last 20-game stretch with points in at least 12 games (and his last 20-game stretch with more than 16 minutes of ice time per game) came in February/March 2013, propelling him to the St. Louis Blues’ team lead in goals (18) and points (36) in 48 games during the 2012-13 season.

FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK
Buffalo is 546-406-186 (.562) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 95-53-24 (.622) in those games since 2005-06. The Sabres are 1-3-0 since the 2015 NHL All-Star Game. These totals do not include games after breaks for the Olympic Games.

LOGGING BIG MINUTES

  • Tyler Myers leads all Sabres and ranked ninth in the league entering Wednesday night with an average time on ice of 25:12 per game.
  • He has averaged 25:02 in his last 10 games despite each of those games ending in regulation.
  • Myers last led the Sabres in ice time in a season in his rookie campaign of 2009-10, when he averaged 23:44 per game.

IN THE LINE OF FIRE

  • Josh Gorges ranked second in the NHL with 139 blocked shots entering Wednesday’s games despite missing nine games to injury this season. He has ranked in the top 10 in the NHL in blocked shots in each of the last three seasons: 2011-12, 250 (1st); 2012-13, 116 (7th); 2013-14, 117 (T-5th)
  • Gorges has blocked 12.4 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.

BUF-STL CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

  • Chris Butler was Buffalo’s fourth-round pick (96th overall) in the 2005 NHL Draft, and he went on to play for the Sabres from 2008-2011. He played 155 games for the club over three seasons and tallied 36 points (5+31).
  • Steve Ott played for Buffalo for parts of two seasons from 2012-2014. Appearing in a total of 107 games with the club, Ott registered 44 points (18+26) and served as the team’s captain.
  • Jim Corsi served as the Sabres’ goaltender coach from 2001-2014.

Former Blues:

  • Chris Stewart played for the Blues for parts of four seasons from 2011-2014. Stewart contributed 115 points (63+52) in 211 games while with St. Louis.
  • Tyson Strachan was a member of the Blues’ organization from 2007-2011. He notched six points (0+6) in 67 games for St. Louis, and added 42 points (8+34) in 141 games for Peoria (AHL).

Danny Flynn:

  • Coached Dmitrij Jaskin for the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) during the 2012-13 season.

Arturs Irbe:

  • Played for the Dallas Stars during the 1996-97 season when Ken Hitchcock was the Stars’ HC.

Andre Benoit:

  • He and Brian Elliott both played for the Ottawa Senators during the 2010-11 season.
  • Played with Paul Stastny for the Colorado Avalanche during the 2013-14 season.

Tyler Ennis:

  • He and Jay Bouwmeester were both born in Edmonton, Alberta.

Jhonas Enroth:

  • Played with Patrik Berglund as part of Team Sweden at the 2008 World Junior Championship.
  • Played with Patrik Berglund and Alexander Steen for Team Sweden at the 2014 Winter Olympics.
  • He and Jaden Schwartz share the same birthday. Enroth was born on June 25, 1988, while Schwartz was born four years later on June 25, 1992.

Brian Gionta:

  • Gionta (1979) and Alex Pietrangelo (1990) were both born on January 18.
  • Played under Kirk Muller from 2009-2011 when Muller was an AC for the Montreal Canadiens.

Josh Gorges:

  • Played under Kirk Muller from 2007-2011 when Muller was an AC for the Montreal Canadiens.
  • Played with Marcel Goc for the San Jose Sharks from 2005-2007.

Andrej Meszaros:

  • Played with Brian Elliot for the Ottawa Senators during the 2007-08 season.

Torrey Mitchell:

  • Played with Marcel Goc for the San Jose Sharks from 2007-2009.

Drew Stafford:

  • Played with David Backes for Team USA at the 2008 and 2009 World Hockey Championships.
  • He and TJ Oshie were both part of the 2005-06 North Dakota Fighting Sioux.

Chris Stewart:

  • Played with Alex Pietrangelo for Team Canada at the 2011 World Championship.
  • Played with Paul Stastny for the Colorado Avalanche from 2008-2011. Kevin Shattenkirk was also part of the team during the 2010-11 season before Stewart and Shattenkirk were traded to the Blues as part of the same trade.

Tyson Strachan:

  • Played with Marcel Goc for the Florida Panthers from 2011-2013.

Toronto Trio

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

NHL Draft:

  • Cody Hodgson (10th overall), Tyler Myers (12th overall), Tyler Ennis (26th overall) and Alex Pietrangelo (4th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft. All four also represented Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.
  • Matt Moulson (263rd overall) and Brian Elliott (291st overall) were both chosen in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Draft.
  • Patrick Berglund (25th overall) and Chris Stewart (18th overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2006 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits:
Deslauriers (167), Weber (103), Girgensons (101)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (139), Weber (92), Myers (90)
Shots: Ennis (120), Girgensons (94), Moulson (93)

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: 0-10-0 (0), 17/43, 6/29, 26/37
51-60: 1-0-0 (2), 3/2, 0/1, 2/2

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)
Points

Brian Gionta … 1 point … 500 career points
Torrey Mitchell … 1 point … 100 career points
Tyler Ennis … 4 points … 200 career points
Matt Moulson … 4 points … 300 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A

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