Game Preview: 11/12/15 at FLA

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Tuesday, November 10
Buffalo 4 at Tampa Bay 1
Goals: Eichel, Franson, Foligno, Ristolainen
Goalie: Johnson (30 saves/31 shots)
PP: 1/3; PK: 4/5; Shots: Tampa Bay 31 – Buffalo 27

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 69)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 15 games
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 15 games
Robin Lehner (high ankle sprain, Oct. 10; injured reserve) – 14 games
Evander Kane (MCL, Oct. 27; injured reserve) – 7 games
Mike Weber (lower body, Nov. 10) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Nov. 14: San Jose at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 17: Dallas at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 19: Buffalo at St. Louis, 8 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 21: Buffalo at Dallas, 8 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 23: St. Louis at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TODAY’S GAME
SABRES at PANTHERS

• This is the second of four meetings between the Sabres and Panthers this season.
• Last meeting: Florida defeated Buffalo, 3-2, in Florida on Oct. 15
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Jan. 5 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Panthers; 4-4-2 on the road.
• This is the 86th game all-time between Buffalo and Florida; Buffalo has a 45-33-7 series record.
• The Sabres are 20-19-3 on the road against the Panthers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 9-7-3 all-time on November 12.
• November 12, 1988: The Sabres acquire Doug Bodger and Darrin Shannon in exchange for Tom Barrasso and a third-round pick (Joe Dziedzic) in the 1990 NHL Draft.
• November 12, 1991: Pat LaFontaine records his first hat trick as a member of the Sabres in a 7-1 win at San Jose.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Buffalo enters tonight’s game having won four of its last five games for the first time since December 2014.
• A win tonight would give the Sabres their first three-game winning streak since December 2014 and their first three-game road winning streak since March 2012.
• The Sabres are looking to avoid losing five consecutive road games to the Panthers for the first time in franchise history.
• Ryan O’Reilly has tallied 20 points (4+16) in his last 19 road games dating back to last season.
• O’Reilly (21:34) led all NHL forwards in ice time per game after Tuesday’s games.
• Entering play Wednesday, Rasmus Ristolainen was tied for fourth among NHL defensemen with three multi-point games this season and was one of just eight defensemen with a two-goal game.
• Tyler Ennis enters tonight’s game on his first three-game point streak since Jan. 17 to 27, 2015. His last four-game point streak was from Dec. 9 to 15, 2014.

HOT AGAINST FLORIDA

• David Legwand has nine points (4+5) in nine career road games against Florida.
• Ryan O’Reilly has 10 points (4+6) in his last seven games against the Panthers.
• Jake McCabe scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 15, when these teams last met.
• Brian Gionta leads all Sabres with 30 points (20+10) in 44 career games against Florida.

KEEPING IT CLOSE
The Sabres and Panthers have had 12 of their last 16 matchups decided by a single goal, including six overtime games. Neither team has defeated the other by three or more goals since Buffalo’s 3-0 win on Oct. 20, 2011.

SUNSHINE SUCCESS
The Sabres have swept nine of the 35 previous Florida/Tampa Bay road trips in franchise history. In the other 26 sets, the Sabres have earned: three points (3), two points (14), one point (2) and zero points (7). This gives them record of 35-30-5 (.536) in previous trips. This trip began with a 4-1 win at Tampa Bay on Tuesday.

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT
Chad Johnson has logged 128:52 since his last even-strength goal against, on Oct. 29 at Pittsburgh, stopping his last 44 shots at even strength. The longest such streak in his career was a 161:25 stretch as a member of the Boston Bruins from Nov. 14 to Dec. 8, 2014 in which he stopped 47 consecutive even-strength shots.

JACK ATTACK

• Jack Eichel was tied for third among all rookies with six goals and ranked second among rookie forwards with an 18:48 average ice time per game entering Wednesday night’s games.
• Eichel enters tonight’s game on his first career point streak (three games, 2+3), having also logged his first two NHL multi-point games in the team’s last two games.

QUICK DRAW McGRAW
Entering Wednesday night’s games, Ryan O’Reilly was ranked third in the league in faceoff percentage (59.7%), trailing only Jonathan Toews (60.2%) and Tomas Hertl (60.0%). O’Reilly also tied for sixth in the league with 350 faceoffs taken, accounting for 39.3% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.

OUTSHOOTING OPPONENTS
The Sabres have outshot their opponents in 10 of their first 15 games this season, posting a 4-6-0 record in those games. Last season, the Sabres hadn’t outshot their opponents 10 times until their 78th game and finished the season 5-5-0 in 10 total games when outshooting their opponent.

POSSESSION PROGRESSION

• The Sabres have led their opponent in even-strength shot attempts (corsi) in seven of the team’s 15 games this season, going 3-4-0 in those games. (Data courtesy of war-on-ice.com)
• Buffalo finished the 2014-15 season with a 3-5-0 record in the eight games in which they recorded more shot attempts than their opponent.
• Before Wednesday night’s games, the Sabres ranked 12th in the league with a corsi for percentage of 50.6%. Buffalo finished last season with a CF% of 37.5%. The Sabres last finished a season with a CF% of more than 50% in 2010-11 (50.4%).

BUF-FLA CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Drafted by the Sabres in the sixth round of the 1997 NHL Draft, Brian Campbell played in Buffalo for parts of eight seasons (1999-00 – 2007-08). As a Sabre, Campbell tallied 176 points (32+144) in 391 games. Campbell was selected as an NHL All-Star in 2007 and 2008.

Carlo Colaiacovo:

• Colaiacovo, Brandon Pirri and Reilly Smith were all born in Toronto, Ontario.

Tyler Ennis:

• Played at the 2015 World Championship with Aaron Ekblad on Team Canada.

Marcus Foligno:

• Played with Erik Gudbranson and Quinton Howden for Team Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.

Cody Franson:

• Played with Dave Bolland for the Toronto Maple Leafs for part of the 2013-14 season.

Chad Johnson:

• Teammates with Reilly Smith and Shawn Thornton for the Boston Bruins during the 2013-14 season.

Jake McCabe:

• Represented the United States alongside Vincent Trochek at the 2013 World Junior Championship and the 2014 World Championship. Rocco Grimaldi was also a part of the 2013 World Junior squad.

Matt Moulson:

• Played with Al Montoya for the New York Islanders from 2010-2013.

Ryan O’Reilly:

• He and Aaron Ekblad share a birthdate. O’Reilly was born on Feb. 7, 1991, and Ekblad was born on Feb. 7, 1996.
• Played with Erik Gudbranson for Team Canada at the 2009 World U-18 Championship.

NHL Draft:

• Ryan O’Reilly, and Brandon Pirri were both second-round picks in the 2009 NHL Draft. O’Reilly was selected 33rd overall by Colorado and Pirri was taken 59th overall by Chicago.
• Nicolas Deslauriers (84th overall) and Reilly Smith (69th overall) were both taken in the third round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Marcus Foligno (104th overall) was taken three picks before Garrett Wilson (107th overall) in the fourth round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Mark Pysyk (23rd overall), Erik Gudbranson (3rd overall), Nick Bjugstad (19th overall) and Quinton Howden (25th overall) were all first-round draft picks in the 2010 NHL Draft.
• Tonight’s game features two players who were taken in the second round of the 2010 NHL Draft; Alex Petrovic (36th overall) and Johan Larsson (56th overall by Minnesota).
• Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) and Aaron Ekblad (1st overall) were the top two picks in the 2014 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers/McGinn (36), Foligno (31), Girgensons (27)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (38), Ristolainen (26), Colaiacovo/McCabe (15)
Shots: Eichel (56), Ristolainen (41), O’Reilly (37)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 3-7-0 (6), 23/32, 9/35, 19/27
11-20: 4-1-0 (8), 13/9, 3/13, 13/14

OVERTIME RESULTS (1-0; 99-101 all-time)
Oct. 27 at PHI: W, 4-3 (GWG-Girgensons)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-0; 66-51 all-time)
Oct. 21 vs. TOR: W, 2-1 (GDG-Moulson)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Goals
Ryan O’Reilly … 6 goals … 100 career goals
Assists
Josh Gorges … 9 assists … 100 career assists

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A