Game Preview: 4/10/15 at CBJ

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Monday, April 6
Carolina 3 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Grigorenko, Gionta, Larsson, Ennis
Goalie: Lindback (49 saves/52 shots)
PP: 0/0; PK: 0/0; Shots: Carolina 52 – Buffalo 25

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 352)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (lower body, Jan. 13; injured reserve) – 37 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 25 games
Evander Kane (shoulder, Feb. 15; injured reserve) – 25 games
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body, Feb. 26; injured reserve) – 19 games
Chad Johnson (lower body, March 6) – 16 games
Jerry D’Amigo (upper body, March 23) – 8 games
Matt Hackett (undisclosed, March 30) – 5 games
Mike Weber (sports hernia, April 3) – 3 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
4/7: Assigned F Tim Schaller and G Andrey Makarov to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, April 11: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at BLUE JACKETS

• This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Blue Jackets this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Columbus, 4-2, in Columbus on Feb. 24
• The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Blue Jackets; 3-4-1 in eight road games.
• This is the 20th game all-time between Buffalo and Columbus; Buffalo has a 7-10-2 series record.
• The Sabres are 3-4-1 on the road against the Blue Jackets all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 5-2-2 (regular season) all-time on April 10.
• April 10, 1988: John Tucker notches five points (2+3) in a 6-5 playoff victory against the Bruins, setting the Sabres’ franchise record for most points in a playoff game.
• April 10, 1995: Jay McKee makes his NHL debut at the age of 18 vs. Ottawa, registering his first NHL point (assist).
• April 10, 2010: Thomas Vanek scores four goals to help Ryan Miller earn his franchise-record 41st win of the season at Ottawa.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres have won their last two games in Columbus and are looking for three 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 seven career games against the Blue Jackets.
• Cody Hodgson has five points (2+3) in his last five games against Columbus.
• Johan Larsson has recorded 13 points (5+8) in his last 15 games.
• Nicolas Deslauriers ranked ninth in the league with 255 hits entering Thursday night’s games.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s last of 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which will conclude with the season finale tomorrow night vs. PIT. The Sabres are 4-13-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 4-13-1 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 (10).

FINISHING STRONG
The Sabres have a 34-23-4 (.590) regular-season record in the month of April since the 2005-06 season, marking the team’s best month during that span. Buffalo has finished with a sub-.500 points percentage in April just twice in those nine seasons and would guarantee a mark of .500 or better in April 2015 with a win tonight.

POINTS IN BUNCHES
After tallying a goal and an assist on Monday vs. CAR, Brian Gionta now has five multi-point games in his last eight games played and has tied Tyler Ennis for the team lead with eight total multi-point games this season. Gionta has recorded 14 points (5+9) in his last 12 games, his most prolific 12-game stretch since Dec. 2008.

CONSISTENT PRODUCTION
Matt Moulson has not gone consecutive games played without recording a point since Feb. 15 and 17. Since then, he has posted 18 points (5+13) in 21 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):

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.

Danny Flynn:

• David Savard played under Flynn’s tutelage from 2007-2010 as a member of the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL).

Andre Benoit:

• Played with David Clarkson for the Kitchener Rangers (OHL) from 2002-2005.
• Played alongside Nick Foligno and Curtis McElhinney for the Ottawa Senators during the 2010-11 season.

Zach Bogosian:

• Represented the United States alongside Jack Johnson at the 2009 World Championship.

Tyler Ennis:

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

Marcus Foligno:

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

Brian Gionta:

• Played with David Clarkson for the New Jersey Devils from 2006-2009.
• Played with Rene Bourque for the Montreal Canadiens from 2011-2014.

Matt Hackett:

• Played with Justin Falk for the Minnesota Wild from 2011-2013.

Cody Hodgson:

• He and David Clarkson were both born in Toronto, Ontario.

Johan Larsson:

• Played with Justin Falk for the Minnesota Wild during the 2012-13 season.

Andrej Meszaros:

• Played with Scott Hartnell for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2010-2014. Sergei Bobrovsky was also a part of the team from 2010-2012.
• 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.

2009 World Juniors:

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

NHL Draft:

• Mike Weber and Artem Anisimov were both drafted in the second round of the 2006 NHL Draft. Anisimov was chosen 54th and Weber was picked 57th.
• Nicolas Deslauriers (84th overall by Los Angeles), Matt Hackett (77th overall by Minnesota) 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.
• Mikhail Grigorenko (12th overall) and Ryan Murray (second overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
• Rasmus Ristolainen, Nikita Zadorov, Alexander Wennberg and Marko Dano were all drafted in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft. Ristolainen was the first off the board at No. 8 overall, Wennberg was taken with the 14th overall pick, Zadorov went 16th overall and Dano was taken 27th overall.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (255), Foligno (184), Bogosian (182)
Blocked Shots: Weber (168), Gorges (148), Ristolainen (134)
Shots: Ennis (180), Moulson (152), Gionta (147)

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: 3-6-1 (7), 25/33, 7/32, 19/22

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 … 7 assists … 100 career assists

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A