Game Preview: 2/24/15 at CBJ

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Sunday, February 22
Nashville 2 at Buffalo 1 (SO)
Goals: Ennis
Goalie: Neuvirth (37 saves/38 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 7/8; Shots: Nashville 38 – Buffalo 17

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 209)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 17 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 5 games
Patrick Kaleta (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 5 games
Evander Kane (shoulder, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 5 games
Tyson Strachan (infection, Feb. 22) – 1 game
Mike Weber (upper body, Feb. 22) – 1 game

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

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Saturday, March 7: Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at BLUE JACKETS

• This is the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Blue Jackets this season.
• Last meeting: Columbus defeated Buffalo, 3-1, in Buffalo on Oct. 9
• Next meeting: Friday, April 10 in Columbus
• The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Blue Jackets; 2-4-1 on the road
• This is the 19th game all-time between Buffalo and Columbus; Buffalo has a 6-10-2 series record.
• The Sabres are 2-4-1 on the road against the Blue Jackets all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 7-7-3 all-time on February 24.
• February 24, 1972: Steve Atkinson scores nine seconds after the opening faceoff as the Sabres defeat the Chicago Blackhawks, 5-3, at the Aud.
• February 24, 1993: Alexander Mogilny scores four goals for the second time in six games and adds an assist as the Sabres defeat the Detroit Red Wings, 10-7, at the Aud.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Buffalo enters tonight’s game on its first three-game unbeaten streak (2-0-1) on the road since Jan. 12 to 25, 2014 (2-0-1). The Sabres are seeking their first four-game streak since they had points in five straight road games from March 10 to 27, 2012 (4-0-1).
• The Sabres won their last game in Columbus and are looking for consecutive road wins against the Blue Jackets for the first time in the all-time series between the teams.
• Tyler Ennis has six points (2+4) in six career games against the Blue Jackets.
• Chris Stewart leads all Sabres with 17 points (11+6) in 26 career games against the Blue Jackets.
• Cody Hodgson has four points in his last four games against Columbus (1+3).
• Matt Moulson enters tonight’s game on a three-game point streak (1+2).
• Nicolas Deslauriers was ranked eighth in the NHL entering Monday night’s games with 193 hits.

NEUVIRTH EMBRACING STARTING ROLE
Michal Neuvirth stopped 37 of 38 Predators shots in Sunday night’s shootout loss vs. NSH and has now made 175 saves in the five games since the Sabres traded Jhonas Enroth to Dallas, logging a .951 save percentage and a 1.73 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 four games as well, including a career-high 32:23 on Feb. 19 at PHI. Bogosian has averaged 28:08 of ice time in five games with the Sabres, logging seven shots, 26 hits and 16 blocked shots.

FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK
Buffalo is 548-411-188 (.560) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 97-58-26 (.608) in those games since 2005-06. The Sabres are 3-8-2 since the 2015 NHL All-Star Game. These totals do not include games after breaks for the Olympic Games.

BUF-CBJ CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Corey Tropp played parts of two seasons with the Sabres in the 2011-12 and 2013-14 seasons. Initially drafted by Buffalo in the third round (89th overall) of the 2007 NHL Draft, Tropp tallied nine points (3+6) in 43 games with the team.
• Jordan Leopold played for the Sabres from 2010-2013, totaling 67 points (25+42) in 174 games.

Andre Benoit:

• Played alongside Nick Foligno and Curtis McElhinney for the Ottawa Senators during the 2010-11 season.

Tyler Ennis:

• He and Kevin Connauton were both born in Edmonton, Alberta.

Marcus Foligno:

• Nick Foligno is Marcus’ older brother. The two were also born in Buffalo.
• Played with Ryan Johansen for Team Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.

Brian Gionta:

• Played with Jordan Leopold for the United States at the 2006 Olympics and the 2005 World Championship.
• Played with James Wisniewski for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2010-11 season.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played with Scott Hartnell for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2014.
• Played with Nick Foligno for the Ottawa Senators during the 2007-08 season.

Matt Moulson:

• Played with Jack Johnson for the Los Angeles Kings from 2007-2009.
• Played with James Wisniewski for the New York Islanders during the 2010-11 season.

Michal Neuvirth:

• Played with Jared Boll for the Plymouth Whalers during the 2006-07 season.

Tyson Strachan:

• Played with Jack Skille for the Florida Panthers from 2011-2013.

2009 World Juniors:

• Tyler Ennis, Cody Hodgson and Cody Goloubef all represented Team Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

NHL Draft:

• Chris Stewart (18th overall by Colorado) and Nick Foligno (28th overall by Ottawa) were both first round draft picks in the 2006 NHL Draft.
• Mike Weber, Michal Neuvirth and Artem Anisimov were all drafted in the second round of the 2006 NHL Draft. Neuvirth went 34th overall, Anisimov was chosen 54th and Weber was picked 57th.
• Nicolas Deslauriers (84th overall by Los Angeles) and Kevin Connauton (83rd overall by Vancouver) were both taken in the third round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Marcus Foligno and David Savard were both chosen in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft. Savard went 94th overall, while Foligno was selected 10 picks later, at 104th overall.
• Mark Pysyk and Ryan Johansen were both first round selections in the 2010 NHL Draft. Johansen was chosen fourth overall and Pysyk was taken with the 23rd overall pick.
• Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, and Alexander Wennberg were all drafted in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft. Ristolainen was the first off the board at No. 8 overall, Zadorov went 16th overall, and Wennberg was taken in the middle with the 14th overall pick.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (193), Bogosian (132), Girgensons (125)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (148), Weber (109), Ristolainen (86)
Shots: Ennis (141), Girgensons (114), Stewart (109)

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: 3-5-2 (8), 16/23, 3/27, 26/32

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 (7-3; 64-49 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)
February 22 vs. Nashville: L, 2-1 (GDG-Forsberg)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Zach Bogosian … 2 games … 400 career games played
Anders Lindback … 5 games … 100 career games played
Rasmus Ristolainen … 9 games … 100 career games played
Mike Weber … 10 games … 300 career games played
Points
Tyler Ennis … 1 point … 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