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LAST GAME
Thursday, November 12
Buffalo 3 at Florida 2
Goals: Gionta, Franson, Reinhart
Goalie: Ullmark (36 saves/38 shots)
PP: 1/1; PK: 2/3; Shots: Florida 38 – Buffalo 19
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 74)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 16 games
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 16 games
Robin Lehner (high ankle sprain, Oct. 10; injured reserve) – 15 games
Evander Kane (MCL, Oct. 27; injured reserve) – 8 games
Mike Weber (knee, Nov. 10) – 2 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Wednesday, Nov. 25: Nashville at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
SHARKS at SABRES
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Sharks this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated San Jose,4-1, in Buffalo on Nov. 18
- Next meeting: Friday, Feb. 26 in San Jose
- The Sabres are 9-1-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Sharks; 9-1-0 at home
- This is the 34th game all-time between Buffalo and San Jose; Buffalo has a 22-6-5 series record.
- The Sabres are 16-1-0 at home against the Sharks all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-3-5 all-time on November 14.
- November 14, 2009: Tyler Ennis scores in his NHL debut and the Sabres top the Flyers, 3-2, in Philadelphia.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres enter tonight’s game on their first three-game winning streak since the team won four in a row from Dec. 9 to 15, 2014.
- Buffalo enters tonight’s game having won five of its last six games for the first time since the team won six of seven from Nov. 15 to Dec. 2, 2014.
- Tyler Ennis enters tonight’s game on his first four-game point streak (0+4) since Dec. 9 to 15, 2014. He last had points in five or more consecutive games from Jan. 12 to 23, 2014 (career-high six games).
- Ryan O’Reilly (21:25) led all NHL forwards in ice time per game before Friday’s games.
SHARK KILLERS
- The Sabres are currently on a franchise-best eight-game winning streak against the Sharks. The previous record was four straight wins, set the first four times the teams faced off (Oct. 25, 1991 to Oct. 23, 1992).
- The Sharks have only won one game in Buffalo in the franchise’s history (Dec. 2, 2005). The Sabres have won all four home games since then and are 16-1-0 all-time in Buffalo against the Sharks.
THEY’VE GOT THE POWER
The Sabres have gone 3-for-6 on the power play in their last three games, improving their season total to 13-for-52 (25.0%), good for fourth-best in the league before Friday’s games. With a power-play goal tonight, the Sabres would have power-play goals in four straight games for the first time since April 1 to 6, 2014. The Sabres last finished a season above 20 percent on the power play in 2008-09 (20.3%).
FINNISHING TOUCH
Entering play Friday, Rasmus Ristolainen was tied for fifth among NHL defensemen with four goals and tied for second among NHL defensemen with four multi-point games this season. No Sabres defenseman has finished a season with five or more multi-point games since Christian Ehrhoff (six) in 2011-12. With a point tonight, Ristolainen would tie his career-best four-game point streak, set from March 26 to April 3, 2015.
JACK ATTACK
- Jack Eichel was tied for third among all rookies with six goals and ranked second among rookie forwards with an 18:49 average ice time per game entering Friday night’s games.
- Eichel enters tonight’s game on a four-game point streak in home games, logging five points (3+2) in those games. Eichel was tied for sixth in home goals entering play Friday.
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.
QUICK DRAW McGRAW
Entering Friday night’s games, Ryan O’Reilly was ranked sixth in the league in faceoff percentage (58.6%). O’Reilly also ranked seventh in the league with 370 faceoffs taken, accounting for 39.1% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.
OUTSHOOTING OPPONENTS
The Sabres have outshot their opponents in 10 of their first 16 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 16 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 Friday night’s games, the Sabres ranked 13th in the league with a corsi for percentage of 50.2%. 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-SJS CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Bob Boughner spent more time with the Sabres than with any other team during his 10-year NHL career. In 177 games for Buffalo, the former defenseman had 13 points (2+11) and 494 penalty minutes.
Former Sharks:
- Josh Gorges played for the Sharks from 2005-2007, tallying 10 points (1+9) in 96 games played.
- Jamie McGinn spent parts of four seasons with San Jose from 2008-2012. He posted 49 points and 99 penalty minutes in 204 games for the Sharks.
Dan Bylsma:
- Coached Paul Martin for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2010-2014.
Carlo Colaiacovo:
- Played with Brent Burns for Team Canada at the 2011 World Championship.
Tyler Ennis:
- Played with Brent Burns and Martin Jones for Team Canada at the 2015 World Championship.
Cody Franson:
- Played with Mike Brown for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2011-2013.
Brian Gionta:
- Teammates with Paul Martin for the New Jersey Devils from 2003-2009.
Josh Gorges:
- Played with Brent Burns for Team Canada at the 2004 World Junior Championship.
Chad Johnson:
- Played with Brent Burns for Team Canada at the 2010 World Championship.
Jake McCabe:
- Represented the United States alongside Tommy Wingels at the 2014 World Championship.
Matt Moulson:
- He and Joel Ward were both born in North York, Ontario.
- Teammates with Michael Haley for the New York Islanders from 2009-2012.
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Represented Canada alongside Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the 2012 World Championship.
- Played with Brent Burns for Team Canada at the 2015 World Championship.
Sam Reinhart:
- He and Martin Jones were both born in North Vancouver, British Columbia.
Rasmus Ristolainen:
- Played with Joonas Donskoi for Team Finland at the 2012 World Junior Championship.
NHL Entry Draft:
- Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) and Tomas Hertl (17th overall) were both first-round selections in the 2012 NHL Draft.
- Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall) and Mirco Mueller (18th overall) were all selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
- Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) and Nikolay Goldobin (27th overall) were both first-round draft picks in the 2014 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: McGinn (40), Deslauriers (36), Foligno (33)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (41), Ristolainen (28), Colaiacovo/McCabe (17)
Shots: Eichel (56), Ristolainen (42), Ennis/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: 5-1-0 (10), 16/11, 4/14, 15/17
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
