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LAST GAME
Saturday, November 28
Buffalo 4 at Nashville 1
Goals: Reinhart (2), McGinn, O’Reilly
Goalie: Johnson (28 saves/29 shots)
PP: 2/4; PK: 2/3; Shots: Nashville 29 – Buffalo 24
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 115)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 24 games
Robin Lehner (high ankle sprain, Oct. 10; injured reserve) – 23 games
Mike Weber (knee, Nov. 10) – 10 games
Mark Pysyk (bone bruise, Nov. 19; injured reserve) – 6 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Nov. 25; injured reserve) – 3 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/25: Activated F Zemgus Girgensons from IR; placed D Mark Pysyk on IR (retroactive to 11/17)
11/27: Activated D Mike Weber from IR; Placed F Tyler Ennis on IR (retroactive to 11/25)
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Thursday, Dec. 10: Buffalo at Calgary, 9 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 12: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at RED WINGS
- This is the first of five meetings between the Sabres and Red Wings this season.
- Last meeting: Detroit defeated Buffalo, 6-4, in Detroit on Jan. 18
- Next meeting: Monday, Dec. 14 in Detroit
- The Sabres are 1-9-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Red Wings; 1-8-1 on the road.
- This is the 125th game all-time between Buffalo and Detroit; Buffalo has a 54-54-16 series record.
- The Sabres are 19-37-7 on the road against the Red Wings all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 10-5-2 all-time on December 1.
- December 1, 1973: The Sabres top the Red Wings, 4-1, in their first-ever win at Detroit, ending a three-game losing streak against the Red Wings and a nine-game winless streak (0-8-1) in Detroit.
- December 1, 1993: Dominik Hasek stops 33 Tampa Bay shots to record his second of 55 regular-season shutouts as a member of the Sabres in a 3-0 win against the Lightning.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres are looking for their first win in Detroit since Oct. 13, 2006, hoping to snap a three-game losing streak to the Red Wings and a seven-game winless streak (0-6-1) in Detroit.
- Matt Moulson has nine points (5+4) in his last nine games against the Red Wings.
- Evander Kane has tallied an assist in each of his last four games against Detroit.
- Ryan O’Reilly (21:39) leads all NHL forwards in average ice time per game.
- Chad Johnson, who started in back-to-back wins for the Sabres on Friday vs. Carolina and Saturday at Nashville, logged a 3-1-1 record with a .954 save percentage and a 1.28 goals-against average in seven appearances in November.
YOUNG GUNS
- With a combined 14 goals through Buffalo’s first 24 games, Jack Eichel (8) and Sam Reinhart (6) are currently on pace to become the second pair of rookies in Sabres history to each record 20 goals in the same season. The other pair was Danny Gare (31) and Peter McNab (22) in 1974-75.
- If they maintain their current pace, Eichel (8+4) and Reinhart (6+3) would also be the first pair of Sabres rookies to surpass the 30-point mark since Thomas Vanek (48) and Jason Pominville (30) did so in 2005-06.
POSITIVE TRENDS
The Sabres enter tonight’s game with an opportunity to extend a number of situational team streaks with a win:
| The Sabres enter tonight’s game… | With a win tonight, they would extend the streak to… |
| …with wins in consecutive divisional matchups for the first time since March 17 and April 1, 2015. | …wins in three straight matchups with divisional opponents for the first time since they beat four straight from Nov. 15 to Dec. 2, 2014. |
| …with consecutive divisional road wins for the first time (in one season) since March 19 and 23, 2013. | …three straight divisional road wins for the first time since they won four in a row from Jan. 20 to March 10, 2011. |
| …with wins in three straight Eastern Conference matchups for the first time since Nov. 28 to Dec. 2, 2014. | …four straight wins in Eastern Conference matchups for the first time since they won five straight from Nov. 15 to Dec. 2, 2014. |
| …with three straight road wins against Eastern Conference opponents for the first time since April 2 to 23, 2013. | …four straight Eastern Conference road wins (in one season) for the first time since Feb. 8 to March 1, 2011. |
| …having won consecutive games by at least three goals for the first time since Nov. 15 and 18, 2014. | …three straight wins by three or more goals for the first time since March 19 to 23, 2012. (Win must be by three goals or more.) |
STAYING OUT OF TROUBLE
- Of the 429 NHL players who have played at least 20 games this season, only nine have zero penalty minutes. The Sabres are the only team with two players among these nine: Rasmus Ristolainen and Johan Larsson
- Both Ristolainen (34 games) and Larsson (25 games) are on the longest penalty-free streaks of their careers.
- Ristolainen averages 24:05 of ice time per game. He is one of only two players (Loui Erkisson) with an average above 20 minutes per game and zero penalty minutes this season.
- Ristolainen is one of just three NHL defensemen (Brian Dumoulin, Matt Tennyson) with at least 15 games played and no penalty minutes.
(All stats as of 11/30)
FINNISHING TOUCH
Entering Monday night’s games, Rasmus Ristolainen ranked in the top 15 among NHL defensemen in goals (T-12th, 4), points (T-12th, 14) 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
- Entering Monday night’s games, Ryan O’Reilly (58.8%) was ranked fourth in the league in faceoff percentage. O’Reilly also ranked third in the league with 568 faceoffs taken, accounting for 40.1% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.
- O’Reilly’s7% win percentage on the power play (71-for-99) ranked second in the league among all players with at least 25 power-play faceoffs taken. He has taken 69.2% of Buffalo’s power-play faceoffs.
THEY’VE GOT THE POWER
The Sabres are 16-for-75 (21.3%) on the power play this season, ranked seventh in the league entering play Monday. 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 24 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 24 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.
(Data courtesy of war-on-ice.com)
BUF-DET CONNECTIONS
Former Red Wings:
- Dave Barr played more games for Detroit than any other team during his 13-year NHL career. He finished his tenure with the Red Wings with 200 points (82+118) in 293 games.
- Terry Murray played one season for the Red Wings, totaling seven assists and 10 penalty minutes in 23 games during the 1976-77 campaign.
- Carlo Colaiacovo played for the Red Wings during the 2012-13 season and posted one assist in six games.
- David Legwand had 11 points (4+7) in 21 games for the Red Wings during the 2013-14 season.
Carlo Colaiacovo:
- He and Brendan Smith were both born in Toronto, Ontario.
Jack Eichel:
- Played with Dylan Larkin for the United States at the 2015 World Junior Championship and World Championship.
Tyler Ennis:
- Played with Darren Helm for two seasons (2005-2007) with the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL).
Cody Franson:
- Played with Darren Helm for Team Canada at the 2007 World Junior Championship.
Evander Kane:
- Played with Kyle Quincey for Team Canada at the 2012 World Championship.
Johan Larsson:
- Played with Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg and Jonathan Ericsson for Sweden at the 2012 World Championship.
David Legwand:
- He and Danny Dekeyser were both born in Detroit.
Jake McCabe:
- Played with Justin Adbelkader and Danny DeKeyser for the United States at the 2014 World Championship.
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Played with Kyle Quincey for the Colorado Avalanche from 2009-2012 and for Team Canada at the 2012 World Championship.
Rasmus Ristolainen:
- Played with Teemu Pulkkinen for Team Finland at the 2012 World Junior Championship.
Local Players:
- Riley Sheahan was born in St. Catharines, Ontario.
NHL Draft:
- Brian Gionta (82nd overall) and Brad Richards (64th overall) were both third-round picks in the 1998 NHL Draft.
- Ryan O’Reilly (33rd overall) and Tomas Tatar (60th overall) were all second-round picks in the 2009 NHL Draft.
- Mark Pysyk (23rd overall) was taken two spots after Riley Sheahan (21st overall) in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft.
- Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) and Dylan Larkin (15th overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (64), McGinn (55), Foligno (50)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (63), Ristolainen (40), McCabe (28)
Shots: Eichel (80), Ristolainen (61), O’Reilly (59)
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: 2-2-0 (4), 11/7, 2/10, 7/8
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 … 2 games … 500 career games played
Goals
Ryan O’Reilly … 2 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
