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LAST GAME
Wednesday, November 25
Nashville 3 at Buffalo 2
Goals: Kane, Eichel
Goalie: Ullmark (5 saves/8 shots)/Johnson (12 saves/12 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 3/3; Shots: Buffalo 32 – Nashville 20
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 105)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 22 games
Robin Lehner (high ankle sprain, Oct. 10; injured reserve) – 21 games
Mike Weber (knee, Nov. 10; injured reserve) – 8 games
Mark Pysyk (bone bruise, Nov. 19) – 4 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Nov. 25) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/22: Placed F Zemgus Girgensons on IR (retroactive to 11/14)
11/25: Activated F Zemgus Girgensons from IR; placed D Mark Pysyk on IR (retroactive to 11/17)
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Nov. 28: Buffalo at Nashville, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 1: Buffalo at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 4: Arizona at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Dec. 6: Buffalo at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 7: Buffalo at Vancouver, 10 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
HURRICANES at SABRES
- This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Hurricanes this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Carolina, 4-3, in Buffalo on April 6
- Next meeting: Saturday, March 12 in Buffalo
- The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Hurricanes; 5-5-0 at home.
- This is the 193nd game all-time between Buffalo and Carolina/Hartford; Buffalo has a 99-69-24 series record.
- The Sabres are 56-31-8 at home against the Hurricanes/Whalers all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 10-6-5 all-time on November 27.
- November 27, 1971: Craig Ramsay appears in his first NHL game, a 5-2 loss at Vancouver. Ramsay would go on to play 1,070 games during the course of his NHL career, all with the Sabres, trailing only Gilbert Perreault (1,191) for most in franchise history.
- November 27, 2005: Jason Pominville scores his first career NHL goal on Olaf Kolzig in a 3-2 win at Washington.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres are looking for their second consecutive win against the Hurricanes for the first time since March 21, 2010 and Jan. 13, 2011.
- A win tonight would give the Sabres wins in three straight home games against the Hurricanes for the first time since they won five in a row from Oct. 20, 2006 to Jan. 17, 2009.
- Matt Moulson has 18 points (6+12) in his last 14 games against the Hurricanes, including 11 points (4+7) in his last seven home games against Carolina.
- Brian Gionta enters tonight’s game on a three game point streak against the Hurricanes, with four points (2+2) in those games.
- Zach Bogosian has three assists in his last two games against Carolina and Cody Franson has an assist in each of his last two meetings with the Hurricanes.
- Ryan O’Reilly (21:43) leads all NHL forwards in average ice time per game.
BLUE & GOLD FRIDAY
- The Sabres have played on the day after Thanksgiving during all but two years (1989, 1998) since 1982, excluding lockouts, with all but two of those games (2009, 2011) played in Buffalo. They only played on this day one time prior to that stretch (Nov. 28, 1975 at California).
- Buffalo has logged a 19-7-3 all-time record in their 29 games played on the day after Thanksgiving, including a 17-6-3 record in home games and a 8-1-1 record since 2003.
- The only other meeting between these franchises on the day after Thanksgiving was a 4-2 Hartford win at the Aud on Nov. 27, 1987.
STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE
- 11 NHL skaters have played at least 20 games without taking a penalty this season. The Sabres are the only team with two players among these 11: Rasmus Ristolainen and Johan Larsson
- Both Ristolainen (32 games) and Larsson (25 games) are on the longest penalty-free streaks of their careers.
- Ristolainen averages 23:55 of ice time per game. Only two other players with an average above 20 minutes per game have zero penalty minutes this season: Loui Eriksson and Morgan Rielly
- Ristolainen is one of just four NHL defensemen (Brian Dumoulin, Morgan Rielly, Matt Tennyson) with at least 15 games played and no penalty minutes.
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s third of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, which continues tomorrow night at Nashville. The Sabres are 0-2-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-1-0 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in back-to-back sets this season is: four points (0), three points (0), two points (2), one point (0) and zero points (1).
FINNISHING TOUCH
Rasmus Ristolainen ranks in the top 15 among NHL defensemen in goals (T-9th, 4),points (T-12th, 13) and multi-point games (T-6th, 4). No Sabres defenseman has finished a season with five or more multi-point games since Christian Ehrhoff (six) in 2011-12.
QUICK DRAW McGRAW
Ryan O’Reilly (59.0%) is ranked fourth in the league in faceoff percentage. O’Reilly also ranks fourth in the league with 520 faceoffs taken, accounting for 40.2% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.
THEY’VE GOT THE POWER
The Sabres are 14-for-70 (20.0%) on the power play this season, tied for 11th in the league. The Sabres last finished a season above 20 percent on the power play in 2008-09 (21.0%).
OUTSHOOTING OPPONENTS
The Sabres have outshot their opponents in 12 of their first 22 games this season, posting a 4-7-1 record in those games. Last season, the team 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 10 of the team’s 22 games this season, going 3-6-1 in those games.
- Buffalo only led their opponents in even-strength shot attempts eight times throughout the entire 2014-15 season, going 3-5-0 in those eight games.
- The Sabres rank 12th in the league with a corsi for percentage of 49.8%. 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%).
(Data courtesy of war-on-ice.com)
BUF-CAR CONNECTIONS
Dan Bylsma:
- Coached Jordan Staal for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2009-2012.
Zach Bogosian:
- Represented the United States alongside Ron Hainsey and John-Michael Liles at the 2009 World Championship. Bogosian and Hainsey also played together from 2008-2011 for the Atlanta Thrashers and from 2011-2013 for the Winnipeg Jets.
Nicolas Deslauriers:
- Shares a birthday with Andrej Nestrasil. Both players were born on Feb. 22, 1991. The two were also drafted in the third round of the 2009 NHL Draft. Nestrasil went 75th overall, and Deslauriers was waken 84th overall.
Carlo Colaiacovo
- He and Jeff Skinner were both born in Toronto, Ontario, and they also both played together for Team Canada at the 2011 World Championship.
- Teammates with Jay McClement for the St. Louis Blues from 2008-2011. They also represented Canada together at the 2002 and 2003 World Junior Championships.
Jack Eichel:
- Played with Jaccob Slavin for the United States at the 2014 World Junior Championship.
- Represented the United States alongside Justin Faulk at the 2015 World Championship.
Cody Franson:
- Teammates with John-Michael Liles for the Toronto Maple Leafs from 2011-2014. Jay McClement was also on the team from 2012-2014.
Chad Johnson:
- He and Cam Ward were both born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Evander Kane:
- Played with Ron Hainsey from 2009-2011 for the Atlanta Thrashers and from 2011-2013 for the Winnipeg Jets.
- Played with Jeff Skinner for Team Canada at the 2011 and 2012 World Championships. Cam Ward was also on the 2012 squad.
Jamie McGinn:
- Played with Brad Malone for the Colorado Avalanche from 2012-2014.
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Played with three current Hurricanes for the Colorado Avalanche: John-Michael Liles (2009-2011), Jay McClement (2010-2012) and Brad Malone (2011-2014).
- Played with Jeff Skinner for Team Canada at the 2012 and 2013 World Championships. Cam Ward was also on the team in 2012, and Eric and Jordan Staal were both on the 2013 squad.
NHL Draft:
- Mark Pysyk (23rd overall) and Jeff Skinner (7th overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft.
- Johan Larsson (56th overall) and Justin Faulk (37th overall) were both second-round picks in the 2010 NHL Draft.
- Elias Lindholm (5th overall) and Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall) were both selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
- Jack Eichel (2nd overall) and Noah Hanifin (5th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2015 NHL Draft. They also played together for the United States during the 2015 World Junior Championship.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (59), Foligno/McGinn (49), Gorges (44)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (58), Ristolainen (36), McCabe (25)
Shots: Eichel (74), Ristolainen (59), O’Reilly (57)
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: 5-3-2 (12), 21/21, 5/27, 23/29
21-30: 0-2-0 (0), 3/5, 0/5, 3/3
OVERTIME RESULTS (1-1; 99-102 all-time)
Oct. 27 at PHI: W, 4-3 (GWG-Girgensons)
Nov. 14 vs. SJS: L, 2-1 (GWG-Marleau)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-1; 66-52 all-time)
Oct. 21 vs. TOR: W, 2-1 (GDG-Moulson)
Nov. 19 at STL: L, 3-2 (GDG-Steen)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Matt Moulson … 4 games … 500 career games played
Goals
Ryan O’Reilly … 3 goals … 100 career goals
Tyler Ennis … 8 goals … 100 career goals
Assists
Zach Bogosian … 5 assists … 100 career assists
Josh Gorges … 7 assists … 100 career assists
RECENT MILESTONES
N/A
