Game Preview: 4/3/15 vs. CHI

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Wednesday, April 1
Toronto 3 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Dalpe, Hodgson, Moulson, Ellis
Goalie: Lindback (24 saves/27 shots)
PP: 1/5; PK: 4/4; Shots: Buffalo 31 – Toronto 27

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 326)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 34 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 22 games
Evander Kane (shoulder, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 22 games
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 16 games
Chad Johnson (lower body, March 6) – 13 games
Jerry D’Amigo (upper body, March 23) – 5 games
Matt Hackett (undisclosed, March 30) – 2 games
Rasmus Ristolainen (flu, April 1) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/30: Recalled G Andrey Makarov from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, April 4: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 7 p.m.
Monday, April 6: Carolina at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, April 10: Buffalo at Columbus, 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 11: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
BLACKHAWKS at SABRES

• This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Blackhawks this season.
• Last meeting: Chicago defeated Buffalo, 6-2, in Chicago on Oct. 11
• The Sabres are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Blackhawks; 5-4-1 at home
• This is the 115^th game all-time between Buffalo and Chicago; Buffalo has a 53-48-13 series record.
• The Sabres are 34-16-7 at home against the Blackhawks all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 10-9-2 all-time on April 3.
• April 3, 1982: Gilbert Perreault records his 1,000th NHL point in a 5-4 win vs. Montreal. Perreault, who finished his Sabres career with 1,326 points, remains the only player to record 1,000 points for the club.
• April 3, 2008: Ryan Miller appears in his 76th game of the season, the most ever by a Buffalo goaltender.
• April 3, 2013: The Sabres acquire Johan Larsson, Matt Hackett, a 2013 first-round draft selection (Nikita Zadorov) and a 2014 second-round selection (Vaclav Karabacek) from Minnesota in exchange for Jason Pominville and a 2014 fourth-round selection.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres will look to avoid losing three straight home games (and seven straight total games) against the Blackhawks for the first time in franchise history. Buffalo’s last win against Chicago came on Dec. 11, 2009 in Buffalo.
• Zac Dalpe scored his first goal as a member of the Sabres on Wednesday vs. TOR and enters tonight’s game on a career-best three-game point streak (1+2).
• Nicolas Deslauriers ranked eighth in the league with 247 hits entering Thursday night’s games.

GETTING OFFENSIVE
The Sabres enter tonight’s game having scored at least three goals in five consecutive games for the first time since they did so in six straight from Jan. 14 to 25, 2014. They have also outshot their opponents in three straight games for the first time since Dec. 12 to 17, 2013. The team last outshot its opponents four times in a row from Nov. 2 to 8, 2011.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s 18th of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which will conclude tomorrow night at NYI. The Sabres are 4-12-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 4-12-1 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 (9).

POINTS IN BUNCHES
Brian Gionta has recorded 11 points (4+7) in his last nine games. It is his most prolific nine-game stretch since Dec. 2008. Gionta has produced four two-point games in his last five games played; a multi-point game tonight would give him five multi-point games in a six-game span for the second time in his career (last: April 8 to 18, 2006).

CONSISTENT PRODUCTION
Matt Moulson has not gone consecutive games without recording a point since Feb. 15 and 17. Since then, he has posted 17 points (5+12) in 20 games. Moulson has not gone consecutive home games without recording a point since Jan. 13 and 15. Since then, he has posted 12 points (3+9) in 14 home games.

BIGGER ROLE FOR LARSSON
Since assuming a larger role at the beginning of March, Johan Larsson has seen a marked improvement in several statistical categories (percentage stats include 5-on-5 play only):

LIGHTS-OUT LINDBACK
In the 12 games since he was acquired from the Dallas Stars on Feb. 11, Anders Lindback has recorded a .923 save percentage and a 2.65 goals-against average, stopping at least 30 shots in seven of his 11 starts.

BUF-CHI CONNECTIONS
Local Players:

• Patrick Kane was born and raised in Buffalo.

Zach Bogosian:

• Played with Johnny Oduya for the Atlanta Thrashers from 2009-2011 and for the Winnipeg Jets during the 2011-12 season.

Brian Gionta:

• Played with Johnny Oduya for the New Jersey Devils from 2006-2009.

Cody Hodgson:

• He and Kyle Baun were both born in Toronto, Ontario.

Johan Larsson:

• Represented Team Sweden alongside Marcus Kruger at the 2012 World Championship.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Represented Slovakia alongside Marian Hossa at the 2006, 2010 and 2014 Olympics, as well as the 2004 and 2006 World Hockey Championships.
• Played with Antoine Vermette for the Ottawa Senators from 2005-2008.
• Played with Kimmo Timonen for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2014. Kris Versteeg and Dan Carcillo were also on the team during the 2010-11 season.

Rasmus Ristolainen:

• Played with Teuvo Teravainen for Team Finland at the 2013 and 2014 World Junior Championships.

Tyson Strachan:

• Played with Kris Versteeg for the Florida Panthers from 2011-2013.

Mike Weber:       

• Played with Brian Bickell for the OHL’s Windsor Spitfires during the 2005-06 season.
• He and Brandon Saad both hail from Pittsburgh, Pa.

NHL Draft:

• Brian Gionta (82nd overall) and Brad Richards (64th overall) were both chosen in the third round of the 1998 NHL Draft.
• Mikhail Grigorenko (12th overall) and Teuvo Teravainen were both selected in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (247), Foligno (178), Weber (172)
Blocked Shots: Weber (168), Gorges (148), Ristolainen (124)
Shots: Ennis (173), Moulson (151), Gionta (143)

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: 2-4-1 (5), 18/23, 6/25, 15/17

OVERTIME RESULTS (1-3; 98-101 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)
March 26 vs. Arizona: L 4-3 (Gagner, 0:56)

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
N/A