Game Preview: 3/3/15 at TBL

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, February 28
Buffalo 3 at Florida 5
Goals: Hodgson, Meszaros, Mitchell
Goalie: Neuvirth (42 saves/46 shots); 1 ENG
PP: 0/3; PK: 4/6; Shots: Florida 47 – Buffalo 14

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 229)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 20 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 8 games
Patrick Kaleta (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 8 games
Evander Kane (shoulder, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 8 games
Tyson Strachan (infection, Feb. 22) – 4 games
Tyler Ennis (lower body, Feb. 26) – 2 games
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 2 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/25: Assigned D Jake McCabe to Rochester (AHL)
2/26: Recalled F Zac Dalpe and F Phil Varone; Placed F Zemgus Girgensons on IR
2/27: Assigned D Mark Pysyk to Rochester (AHL)
3/2: Acquired a fifth-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft from Montreal in exchange for F Brian Flynn; Acquired G Chad Johnson and a third-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft from NY Islanders in exchange for G Michal Neuvirth; Acquired F Jack Nevins and a seventh-round pick in the 2016 NHL Draft from Montreal in exchange for F Torrey Mitchell; Acquired a second-round pick in the 2017 NHL Draft from Minnesota in exchange for F Chris Stewart
3/3: Recalled F Jerry D’Amigo, F Mikhail Grigorenko and F Tim Schaller from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, March 6: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 7: Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 11: Buffalo at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 14: NY Rangers at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Monday, March 16: Washington at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at LIGHTNING

• This is the fifth and final meeting between the Sabres and Lightning this season.
• Last meeting: Tampa Bay defeated Buffalo, 2-1, in Tampa Bay on Jan. 9
• The Sabres are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Lightning; 4-6-0 on the road
• This is the 86th game all-time between Buffalo and Tampa Bay; Buffalo has a 51-27-7 series record.
• The Sabres are 27-13-3 on the road against the Lightning all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 8-6-8 all-time on March 3.
• March 3, 1975: The Sabres trade the rights to Garry Lariviere to the New York Islanders in exchange for the rights to Gerry Desjardins.
• March 3, 2003: Derek Roy records his first NHL hat trick in a 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs in Buffalo.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres are looking to avoid losing four consecutive games to the Lightning – and three straight road games to the Lightning – for the first time in franchise history.
• Brian Gionta leads all Sabres with 26 points (13+13) in 40 career games against the Lightning.
• Chad Johnson went 2-2-1 in five games with the Islanders in February, posting a .935 save percentage and a 2.20 goals-against average.
• If he plays tonight, Zac Dalpe will appear in his 100th NHL game.

TOPPING TAMPA

• In the last nine seasons, Buffalo has compiled a record of 24-13-2 (.641) against Tampa Bay. The Sabres have scored seven or more goals in a single game against the Lightning six times during that stretch.
• Buffalo’s franchise record of 51-27-7 (.641) against Tampa Bay is the team’s best all-time record against any Eastern Conference opponent. The team’s record against San Jose (22-6-5, .742) is the only better all-time series record.
• The Sabres’ 27-13-3 (.663) record at Tampa Bay is the team’s best road record against any opponent, edging their 6-3-0 (.667) record at Nashville. Their next best road record against an Eastern Conference opponent is their 41-23-10 (.622) mark at Washington.

SUNSHINE SUCCESS
The Sabres have swept nine of the 33 previous Florida/Tampa Bay road trips in franchise history. In the other 24 sets, the Sabres have earned: three points (3), two points (14), one point (2) and zero points (5). This gives them record of 35-26-5 (.568) in previous trips. This Florida trip began with a 5-3 loss at FLA on Saturday.

TRADE DEADLINE RECAP
A list of players and picks traded to and from the Sabres yesterday:

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 six of the next seven games as well, including a career-high 32:23 on Feb. 19 at PHI. Bogosian has averaged 27:11 of ice time in eight games with the Sabres, logging two assists, nine shots, 33 hits and 24 blocked shots.

FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK
Buffalo is 550-412-188 (.560) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 99-59-26 (.609) in those games since 2005-06. The Sabres are 5-9-2 since the 2015 NHL All-Star Game. These totals do not include games after breaks for the Olympic Games.

BUF-TBL CONNECTIONS
Former Lightning:

• Andrej Meszaros played for Tampa Bay from 2008-2010, registering 33 points (8+25) in 133 games.

Local Players:

• Ryan Callahan was born in Rochester, NY and played for the Buffalo Lightning (OPJHL) during the 2001-02 season.

Danny Flynn:

• Coached Mark Barberio from 2007-2010 when he was a member of the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL).

Cody Hodgson:

• Played with Braydon Coburn and Jason Garrison for Team Canada at the 2014 World Championship.

Chad Johnson:

• Played with Brian Boyle and Ryan Callahan for the New York Rangers from 2009-2011.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played with Matthew Carle for the Lightning during the 2008-09 season and again for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2012.
• Played with Braydon Coburn for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2014.

Matt Moulson:

• He and Brian Boyle were both members of the Los Angeles Kings from 2007-2009.

Chris Stewart:

• Played with Ben Bishop for the St. Louis Blues during the 2010-11 season.
• Played with Branden Morrow for the St. Louis Blues for part of the 2013-14 season.

Tyson Strachan:

• Played with Ben Bishop for the St. Louis Blues during the 2008-09 and 2010-11 seasons. They also played together from 2007-2011 for the Peoria Rivermen.
• Played with Jason Garrison for the Florida Panthers during the 2011-12 season.

Nikita Zadorov:

• He and Nikita Kucherov were both born in Moscow, Russia.

NHL Draft:

• The Sabres and Lightning combine to feature a total of four players who were drafted in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft: Zach Bogosian (3rd overall), Cody Hodgson (10th overall), Tyler Ennis (26th overall), and Steven Stamkos (1st overall).
• Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) and Andrei Vasilevskiy (19th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2012 NHL Draft.
• Nikita Zadorov (16th overall) and Jonathan Drouin (3rd overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (198), Bogosian (139), Weber (129)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (148), Weber (116), Ristolainen (92)
Shots: Ennis (143), Girgensons (115), Moulson (113)

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
61-70: 2-1-0 (4), 13/10, 1/7, 8/10

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
Zac Dalpe … 1 game … 100 career games played
Anders Lindback … 5 games … 100 career games played
Rasmus Ristolainen … 6 games … 100 career games played
Mike Weber … 8 games … 300 career games played
Points
Tyler Ennis … 1 point … 200 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
Zach Bogosian … 400th NHL game … Feb. 26 vs. VAN