Game Preview: 2/22/15 vs. NSH

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Friday, February 20
NY Rangers 3 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Moulson
Goalie: Neuvirth (40 saves/43 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 4/4; Shots: NY Rangers 43 – Buffalo 25

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 203)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 16 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Feb. 15) – 4 games
Patrick Kaleta (lower body, Feb. 15) – 4 games
Evander Kane (shoulder, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 4 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/22: Recalled D Jake McCabe and D Mark Pysyk from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Patrick Kaleta and D Josh Gorges on IR

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Feb. 24: Buffalo at Columbus, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 26: Vancouver at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 28: Buffalo at Florida, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, March 3: Buffalo at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 6: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
PREDATORS at SABRES

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Predators this season.
• Last meeting: Nashville defeated Buffalo, 6-1, in Nashville on March 27, 2014
• Next meeting: Saturday, March 21 in Nashville
• The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Predators; 1-5-2 in eight home games.
• This is the 18th game all-time between Buffalo and Nashville; Buffalo has a 7-8-2 series record.
• The Sabres are 1-5-2 at home against the Predators all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 5-4-1 all-time on February 22.
• February 22, 2007: Patrick Kaleta records his first career point (an assist) in his NHL debut vs. Ottawa. The Sabres would win the game, 6-5, in a shootout after the teams combined to record 136 penalty minutes.
• February 22, 2011: Terry Pegula announces his purchase of the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres would finish the season by going 16-4-4 in the 24 games after the purchase and make the playoffs.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres are seeking their second home win against the Predators after having lost the last three meetings between these teams in Buffalo (last: 8-4 win on Feb. 27, 2008).
• Buffalo will look to avoid its first three-game losing streak against Nashville since Nov. 13, 2001 to Nov. 29, 2003.
• Michal Neuvirth is 2-0-0 in his career against Nashville with a .950 save percentage and a 1.48 goals-against average
• Nicolas Deslauriers was tied for seventh in the NHL entering Saturday night’s games with 192 hits.

NEUVIRTH EMBRACING STARTING ROLE
Michal Neuvirth stopped 40 of 43 Rangers shots in Friday night’s loss vs. NYR and has now made 138 saves in the four games since the Sabres traded Jhonas Enroth to Dallas, logging a .945 save percentage and a 1.93 goals-against average in those games.

BIG MINUTES FOR BOGOSIAN
After becoming the first player to lead the team in ice time in his Sabres debut since Jaroslav Spacek (10/4/06) on Feb. 15 vs. PHI, Zach Bogosian has led the team in each of the next three games as well, including a career-high 32:23 on Feb. 19 at PHI. Bogosian has averaged 28:08 of ice time in four games with the Sabres, logging seven shots, 24 hits and 13 blocked shots.

FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK
Buffalo is 548-411-187 (.560) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 97-58-25 (.608) in those games since 2005-06. The Sabres are 3-8-1 since the 2015 NHL All-Star Game. These totals do not include games after breaks for the Olympic Games.

BUF-NSH CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Paul Gaustad spent the better part of eight seasons as a member of the Sabres from 2002-2012. Buffalo’s seventh-round choice (220th overall) in the 2000 NHL Draft, Gaustad recorded 181 points (71+110) over a span of 479 games in a Sabres uniform. He was dealt to Nashville on Feb. 27, 2012, along with a fourth-round draft pick in 2013 in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 2012 (Zemgus Girgensons).

Former Predators:

• Anders Lindback played for the Nashville Predators from 2010-2012. He was drafted by Nashville in the seventh round (207th overall) of the 2008 NHL Draft, and went on to post a 16-13-2 record with a 2.53 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage in 38 games played for the club.

Danny Flynn:

• Coached Gabriel Bourque for the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL) for part of the 2009-10 season.

Andre Benoit:

• Played with Mike Fisher for the Ottawa Senators during the 2010-11 season.

Marcus Foligno:

• Represented Team Canada alongside Ryan Ellis at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.

Josh Gorges:

• Gorges (1984) and Shea Weber (1985) were both born on Aug. 14. The two were also teammates for the Kelowna Rockets (WHL) from 2001-2004.

Johan Larsson:

• Represented Team Sweden alongside Calle Jarnkrok at the 2009 World U-18 Championship, the 2011 World Junior Championship and the 2012 World Championship.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played for Peter Laviolette for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2013, when Laviolette served as the club’s head coach.
• Played with Mike Fisher for the Ottawa Senators from 2005-2008.

Torrey Mitchell:

• Played alongside Matt Cullen for the Minnesota Wild during the 2012-13 season.

Michal Neuvirth:

• Played with James Neal for the Plymouth Whalers (OHL) during the 2006-07 season.
• He and Ryan Ellis both played for the Windsor Spitfires (OHL) during the 2007-08 season.
• Played alongside Mike Ribeiro for the Washington Capitals during the 2012-13 season.

Chris Stewart:

• Played with James Neal for Team Canada at the 2011 World Championship..

NHL Draft:

• Zach Bogosian (3rd overall), Cody Hodgson (10th overall), Tyler Ennis (26th overall) and Colin Wilson (7th overall) were all chosen in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft.
• Nicolas Deslauriers (84th overall) and Taylor Beck (70th overall) were both selected in the third round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Marcus Foligno (104th overall) was chosen two picks after Mattias Ekholm (102nd overall) and six picks after Craig Smith (98th overall) in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft.

2009 World Juniors:

• Cody Hodgson, Tyler Ennis and Ryan Ellis were all teammates for Team Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (192), Bogosian (130), Weber (121)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (148), Weber (109), Ristolainen (85)
Shots: Ennis (137), Girgensons (113), Stewart (108)

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: 3-5-1 (7), 15/21, 3/24, 19/24

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 (7-2; 64-48 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)
February 17 at New Jersey: L, 2-1 (GDG-Gomez)
February 19 at Philadelphia: W, 3-2 (GDG-Flynn)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Zach Bogosian … 3 games … 400 career games played
Anders Lindback … 5 games … 100 career games played
Mike Weber … 10 games … 300 career games played
Rasmus Ristolainen … 10 games … 100 career games played
Points
Tyler Ennis … 2 points … 200 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
Brian Gionta … 500th NHL point … Feb. 19 at PHI
Torrey Mitchell … 100th NHL point … Feb. 19 at PHI
Matt Moulson … 300th NHL point … Feb. 20 vs. NYR