Game Preview: 2/8/15 vs. NYI

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, February 7
Dallas 2 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Myers, Ennis, Girgensons
Goalie: Enroth (38 saves/40 shots)
PP: 1/2; PK: 1/2; Shots: Dallas 40 – Buffalo 24

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 185)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Marcus Foligno (undisclosed, Dec. 23; injured reserve) – 19 games
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 10 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/4: Assigned G Matt Hackett to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Thursday, Feb. 19: Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 20: Ottawa at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
ISLANDERS at SABRES

• This is the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Islanders this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated New York, 4-3 (SO), in Buffalo on Dec. 27, 2014
• Next meeting: Saturday, April 4 in New York
• The Sabres are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Islanders; 5-3-2 at home.
• This is the 158th game all-time between Buffalo and New York; Buffalo has a 77-57-23 series record.
• The Sabres are 43-24-12 at home against the Islanders all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 12-3-4 all-time on February 8.
• February 8, 1974: The Buffalo Sabres earn the 100th win in franchise history, beating the California Golden Seals, 7-2, in California.
• February 8, 1984: Gilbert Perreault scores his 450th career goal with 3:16 left in the third period to seal a 6-5 road win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
• February 8, 2012: Ryan Miller stops 36 shots to earn his 25th career shutout in a 6-0 home win over the Boston Bruins.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW             

• Tonight’s game is the third in a stretch of four home games in six days for the Sabres.
• The Sabres are 6-for-20 on the power play in their last eight games.
• Andrej Meszaros leads all Sabres with 28 points (11+17) in 32 career games against the Islanders.
• Four of the last five games between the Sabres and Islanders have been decided in shootouts.
• Matt Moulson has four points (3+1) in three career games against his former team.
• Jhonas Enroth has stopped 131 of the 142 shots he’s faced (.923 save percentage) in four career games against the Islanders. He’s also 2-1-0 in his three starts this week with a .942 save percentage and a 2.00 goals-against average.

COMEBACK KIDS
In the last game between Buffalo and New York (Dec. 27), Buffalo scored three goals in the third period and eventually won in a shootout. In that game, the Sabres overcame a 3-0 third-period deficit for just the second time in franchise history (4/2/03 vs. ATL). The game against Atlanta was the only other win in franchise history in which the Sabres trailed by three or more goals in the third period and their first goal of the game came at any point in the third period (via Elias Sports Bureau).

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game concludes up Buffalo’s 13th of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which opened with a 3-2 win against the Dallas Stars last night. The Sabres are 3-10-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 3-8-1 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 (7).

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 16 points (6+10) during that stretch with an average ice time of 16:59 per game. Before his current run, 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 547-407-186 (.561) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 96-54-24 (.621) in those games since 2005-06. The Sabres are 2-4-0 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 ranks ninth in the league after last night’s game with an average time on ice of 25:10 per game.
• He has averaged 25:06 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 143 blocked shots after last night’s game 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 12.2 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-NYI CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Eric Boulton played for the Sabres for four seasons (2000-2004). Boulton appeared in 172 games, scoring 17 points (5+12).
• Jaroslav Halak was a member of the Sabres for four days during the 2013-14 season. He was acquired from the St. Louis Blues on Feb. 28 before being dealt to the Washington Capitals on Mar. 5, and did not appear in a game during his brief stint in Buffalo.

Former Islanders:

• Bryan Trottier played 15 seasons for the New York Islanders and won four straight Stanley Cups with the club from 1980-1983. He still ranks among the franchise leaders in virtually every offensive category, including points (1st, 1,353), goals (2nd, 500), assists (1st, 853), games played (1st, 1,123) and plus/minus (1st, plus-470).
• Ted Nolan coached the Islanders for two seasons from 2006-2008. He compiled an overall record of 75-68-21, also leading the club to a postseason berth in 2006-07.
• Matt Moulson played for the Islanders from 2009-2013, registering 223 points (118+105) in 223 games.

Josh Gorges:

• Played with Jaroslav Halak for the Montreal Canadiens from 2006-2010. Mikhail Grabovski was also part of the team during the 2007-08 season.

Brian Gionta:

• Played with Jaroslav Halak for the Montreal Canadiens from during the 2009-10 season.

Cody Hodgson:

• He and Casey Cizikas were both born in Toronto, Ontario.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Meszaros, Johnny Boychuk and Chad Johnson all played for the Boston Bruins during the 2013-14 season.

Torrey Mitchell:

• Played with Cal Clutterbuck for the Minnesota Wild during the 2012-13 season.

Matt Moulson:

• Played with Lubomir Visnovsky for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2007-08 season. The two were then reunited with the Islanders from 2012-13.

Michal Neuvirth:

• Played with Josh Bailey for the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) during the 2007-08 season.
• Teammates with John Tavares for the Oshawa Generals (OHL) during the 2007-08 season.

Chris Stewart:

• Stewart and Casey Cizikas were both born in Toronto, Ontario.
• Played with Jaroslav Halak for the St. Louis Blues from 2010-2014 when they were both traded to Buffalo as part of the same deal.

Mike Weber:                       

• Played with Josh Bailey for the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) in 2006-07.

2009 World Juniors:

• Tyler Myers, Tyler Ennis, Cody Hodgson, John Tavares and Thomas Hickey all played for Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

NHL Draft:

• Matt Moulson (263rd overall) and Jaroslav Halak (271st overall) were both chosen in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Draft.
• Michael Neuvirth (34th overall), Jhonas Enroth (46th overall), Mike Weber (57th overall) and Nikolay Kulemin (44th overall) were all selected in the second round of the 2006 NHL Draft.
• Tyler Myers, Cody Hodgson, Tyler Ennis and Josh Bailey were all first-round selections in the 2008 NHL Draft. Bailey was the ninth pick, Hodgson, selected by Vancouver, was the 10th pick, Myers was picked 12th and Ennis was the 26th selection.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (173), Weber (109), Girgensons (103)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (143), Weber (97), Myers (95)
Shots: Ennis (122), Girgensons (99), Moulson (96)

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: 2-1-0 (4), 6/7, 1/5, 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)
Points
Brian Gionta … 1 point … 500 career points
Torrey Mitchell … 1 point … 100 career points
Tyler Ennis … 3 points … 200 career points
Matt Moulson … 3 points … 300 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A