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LAST GAME
Thursday, December 31
NY Islanders 2 at Buffalo 1
Goals: O’Reilly
Goalie: Ullmark (31 saves/33 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 1/2; Shots: Buffalo 43 – NY Islanders 33
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 174)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 38 games
Robin Lehner (high ankle sprain, Oct. 10; injured reserve) – 37 games
Mark Pysyk (bone bruise, Nov. 19; injured reserve) – 20 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Dec. 31) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Jan. 5: Florida at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 8: Buffalo at Chicago, 8:30 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 10: Buffalo at Winnipeg, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 12: Buffalo at Minnesota, 8 p.m.
Friday, Jan. 15: Boston at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
TODAY’S GAME
RED WINGS at SABRES
- This is the third of five meetings between the Sabres and Red Wings this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Detroit, 2-1, in Detroit on Dec. 14
- Next meeting: Friday, Jan. 22 in Buffalo
- The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Red Wings; 2-7-1 at home.
- This is the 127th game all-time between Buffalo and Detroit; Buffalo has a 55-54-17 series record.
- The Sabres are 35-17-9 at home against the Red Wings all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 6-5-5 all-time on January 2.
- January 2, 1999: Miroslav Satan extends his goal streak to eight games with a game-winning tally in a 7-1 win at home against Calgary.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- Today’s game is the fifth of 11 afternoon games for the Sabres this season; the next will be on Sunday, Jan. 10 at Winnipeg.
- The Sabres enter today’s game with a 4-0-1 record in their last five games against the Atlantic Division.
- After the team’s win on Dec. 14 at Detroit, the Sabres are looking for wins in consecutive matchups with the Red Wings for the first time March 6, 1994 and Nov. 1, 1995. A win would also give the Sabres two wins in a season against the Red Wings for the first time since they won both matchups in the 1989-90 season.
- With an win or overtime/shootout loss tonight, the Sabres would have points in three straight matchups with the Red Wings for the first time since Oct. 13, 2009 to Feb. 26, 2011 (1-0-2)
- Rasmus Ristolainen has four assists in two games against the Red Wings this season.
- Ryan O’Reilly has a point in each of his last two games against Detroit (1+1).
- Jack Eichel entered Friday’s games ranked 10th in the NHL with 124 shots on goal. Evander Kane’s 8 shots per game ranked him ninth in the league.
- Ryan O’Reilly (21:52) leads all NHL forwards in average ice time per game and Evander Kane (20:56) ranks fourth.
JACK ATTACK
Jack Eichel enters tonight’s game with nine points (2+7) in his last six games after recording a career-high four points (2+2) on Saturday at Boston and two assists last night at Washington. With his four-point performance, Eichel became the first rookie to tally four points in a game for the Sabres since Tyler Myers (1+3) on March 10, 2010 vs. Dallas. He was the second-youngest player ever to post a four-point game for the Sabres (Phil Housley, 18 years, Oct. 17, 1982 vs. Edmonton).
JOHNNY ON THE SPOT
Chad Johnson has appeared in 15 games since the beginning of November, logging a 7-4-2 record with a .935 save percentage and a 1.97 goals-against average during that stretch. Johnson stopped a career-high 44 shots on Dec. 17 vs. Anaheim to earn his fourth career shutout, setting the Sabres’ franchise record for most saves in a regular-season shutout.
THE O’REILLY FACTOR
- Ryan O’Reilly has 17 points (8+9) in his last 17 games, a stretch that included an eight-game point streak from Nov. 28 to Dec. 14. The point streak tied the longest streak of O’Reilly’s
- O’Reilly (58.3%) ranked fourth in the league in faceoff percentage entering Friday’s games. O’Reilly also led the league with 940 faceoffs taken, accounting for 41.6% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.
FINNISHING TOUCH
- Entering Friday’s games, Rasmus Ristolainen ranked in the top 10 among NHL defensemen in goals (T-10th, 7), assists (T-11th, 18), points (T-10th, 25), shots (9th, 96) and multi-point games (T-7th, 6).
- Ristolainen is the first Sabres defenseman to record five or more multi-point games in a season since Christian Ehrhoff had six in 2011-12. Jordan Leopold (2010-11) was the last Sabres defenseman to record seven multi-point games.
- His four power-play goals are the most by a Sabres defenseman since 2010-11 (Jordan Leopold, 5).
- With 25 points (7+18) in 38 games, Ristolainen is on pace for 54 points this season. If he reaches the 50-point mark, Ristolainen would be the first Sabres defenseman with 50 points in a season since Garry Galley (1995-96) and the youngest to reach that mark since Phil Housley.
YOUNG GUNS
- If they maintain their current pace, Jack Eichel (11+12) and Sam Reinhart (8+7) would 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.
- Eichel (11) and Reinhart (8) are also nearly on pace to become the second pair of rookies in Sabres history to each record 20 goals in the same season. The first pair was Danny Gare (31) and Peter McNab (22) in 1974-75.
OUTSHOOTING OPPONENTS
The Sabres have outshot their opponents in 19 of their first 38 games this season, posting a 6-12-1 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 16 of the team’s 38 games this season, going 6-8-2 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.
Cody Franson:
- Played with Darren Helm for Team Canada at the 2007 World Junior 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.
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 both second-round picks in the 2009 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 (100), McGinn (86), Kane (73)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (90), Ristolainen (60), McCabe (46)
Shots: Eichel (124), Kane (106), Ristolainen (96)
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: 4-5-1 (9), 29/28, 8/29, 20/23
31-40: 3-4-1 (7), 16/18, 1/25, 15/18
OVERTIME RESULTS (2-1; 100-102 all-time)
Oct. 27 at PHI: W, 4-3 (GWG-Girgensons, 2:29)
Nov. 14 vs. SJS: L, 2-1 (GWG-Marleau, 2:59)
Dec. 12 vs. LAK: W, 2-1 (GWG-O’Reilly, 3:19)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-3; 66-54 all-time)
Oct. 21 vs. TOR: W, 2-1 (GDG-Moulson)
Nov. 19 at STL: L, 3-2 (GDG-Steen)
Dec. 1 at DET: L, 5-4 (GDG-Richards)
Dec. 19 vs. CHI: L, 3-2 (GDG-Kane)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
David Legwand … 8 games … 1,100 career games played
Goals
Tyler Ennis … 8 goals … 100 career goals
Assists
Zach Bogosian … 2 assists … 100 career assists
Josh Gorges … 5 assists … 100 career assists
RECENT MILESTONES
Johan Larsson … 100th NHL game … Dec. 26 at BOS
