Game Preview: 3/21/15 at NSH

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Friday, March 20
New Jersey 3 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Moulson
Goalie: Lindback (24 saves/27 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 2/2; Shots: Buffalo 29 – New Jersey 27

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 282)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 28 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 16 games
Patrick Kaleta (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 16 games
Evander Kane (shoulder, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 16 games
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 10 games
Chad Johnson (lower body, March 6) – 7 games
Zach Bogosian (lower body, March 14) – 4 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/16: Recalled D Chad Ruhwedel from Rochester (AHL)
3/20: Assigned D Chad Ruhwedel and F Tim Schaller to Rochester (AHL); Recalled F Mikhail Grigorenko from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Monday, March 23: Buffalo at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 26: Arizona at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 28: Buffalo at Colorado, 9 p.m.
Monday, March 30: Buffalo at Arizona, 10 p.m.
Wednesday, April 1: Toronto at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at PREDATORS

• This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Predators this season.
• Last meeting: Nashville defeated Buffalo, 2-1 (SO), in Buffalo on Feb. 22
• The Sabres are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Predators; 6-3-0 in nine road games.
• This is the 19th game all-time between Buffalo and Nashville; Buffalo has a 7-8-3 series record.
• The Sabres are 6-3-0 on the road against the Predators all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 13-8-0 all-time on March 21.
• March 21, 1971: Eddie Shack picks up his second hat trick in as many months as the Sabres defeat the Boston Bruins on the road, 7-5. Shack scored two of the goals only 2:22 apart. All three were scored in a span of 15:58.
• March 21, 1976: The Sabres hold the Kansas City Scouts to only eight total shots in, including zero in the third period, in a 3-1 win.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres need a win tonight to avoid losing consecutive games in Nashville for the first time since Nov. 13, 2001 and Nov. 29, 2003.
• Buffalo will look to avoid its first ever four-game losing streak against Nashville. The Sabres’ last win against the Predators was on Dec. 3, 2011 in Nashville.
• Tyler Ennis has four points (3+1) in five games against the Predators.
• Johan Larsson has six points (3+3) in his last six games, averaging 19:44 of ice time per game during that span.
• Nicolas Deslauriers ranked eighth in the league with 229 hits after last night’s game.

MAN ADVANTAGE
Entering tonight’s game, the Sabres have scored a power play goal in three consecutive games for the second time this season (last: Jan. 17 to 27), going 3-for-9 in those games. With a power play goal tonight, Buffalo would extend that streak to four games for the first time since April 1 to 6, 2014 (4-for-15).

GOING STREAKING
Brian Gionta enters tonight’s game on his first three-game point streak (0+3) since Jan. 30 to Feb. 2, 2014 as a member of the Montreal Canadiens. With a point tonight, Gionta would be on his first four-game point streak since he notched a point in five straight from Nov. 6 to 11, 2011.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s 17th of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began with a 3-1 loss vs. NJD last night. The Sabres are 4-12-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 4-11-1 in the second game. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets is: four points (1), three points (1), two points (5), one point (1) and zero points (8).

LIGHTS-OUT LINDBACK
In the eight games since he was acquired from the Dallas Stars on Feb. 11, Anders Lindback has recorded a .930 save percentage and a 2.49 goals-against average, stopping at least 30 shots in six of his seven starts.

TRADE DEADLINE RECAP
A list of players and picks traded to and from the Sabres on deadline day:

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.

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.

Zach Bogosian:

• Played with Mike Santorelli for the Winnipeg Jets for part of the 2012-13 season.

Zac Dalpe:

• Played with Mike Santorelli for the Vancouver Canucks during the 2013-14 season.

Jerry D’Amigo:

• Played with Cody Franson for the Toronto Maple Leafs during the 2013-14 season.

Marcus Foligno:

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

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.

Anders Lindback:

• Lindback and Calle Jarnkrok are both from Gävle, Sweden.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played with Cody Franson for the Vancouver Giants (WHL) during the 2004-05 season.
• Played for Peter Laviolette for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2013, when Laviolette served as the club’s head coach.
• Played with Mike Fisher and Anton Volchenkov for the Ottawa Senators from 2005-2008.

Tyson Strachan:

• Played with Mike Santorelli for the Florida Panthers from 2011-2013.

Nikita Zadorov:

• He and Anton Volchenkov were both born in Moscow, Russia.

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.
• Matt Hackett (77th overall), Nicolas Deslauriers (84th overall) and Taylor Beck (70th overall) were all 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 (229), Foligno (165), Weber (156)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (148), Weber (144), Ristolainen (115)
Shots: Ennis (160), Moulson (135), Gionta (117)

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: 3-5-2 (8), 24/33, 3/22, 21/30
71-80: 0-1-0 (0), 3/1, 1/4, 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 (8-5; 65-51 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)
March 11 at Toronto: L, 4-3 (GDG-Bozak)
March 16 vs. Washington: L, 4-3 (GDG-Kuznetsov)
March 17 at Boston: W, 2-1 (GDG-Ennis)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Assists
Zach Bogosian … 9 assists … 100 career assists

RECENT MILESTONES
Rasmus Ristolainen … 100th NHL game … March 16 vs. WSH
Mike Weber … 300th NHL game … March 20 vs. NJD