Game Preview: 1/5/16 vs. FLA

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, January 2
Detroit 4 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Eichel (2), Reinhart
Goalie: Johnson (19 saves/23 shots)
PP: 2/5; PK: 1/2; Shots: Buffalo 35 – Detroit 23

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 178)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 39 games
Robin Lehner (high ankle sprain, Oct. 10; injured reserve) – 38 games
Mark Pysyk (bone bruise, Nov. 19; injured reserve) – 21 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Dec. 31) – 2 games
Nicolas Deslauriers (lower body) – 0 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/4: Recalled F Tim Schaller from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Saturday, Jan. 16: Washington at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
PANTHERS at SABRES

• This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Panthers this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Florida, 3-2, in Florida on Nov. 12
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Feb. 9 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Panthers; 3-6-1 at home.
• This is the 87th game all-time between Buffalo and Florida; Buffalo has a 46-33-7 series record.
• The Sabres are 25-14-4 at home against the Panthers all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 8-4-2 all-time on January 5.
• January 5, 1996: The Sabres retire Tim Horton’s No. 2 jersey before a 3-1 home win against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres enter today’s game with a 4-1-1 record in their last six games against the Atlantic Division.
• With a win tonight, the Sabres would have wins in consecutive matchups with the Panthers for the first time since they won three in a row from Feb. 10 to Oct. 20, 2011.
• David Legwand has 16 points (5+11) in 19 career games against Florida.
• Ryan O’Reilly has 10 points (4+6) in his last eight games against the Panthers.
• Evander Kane ranked seventh in the league entering Monday night’s games with 3.8 shots per game.
• Ryan O’Reilly (21:55) leads all NHL forwards in average ice time per game and Evander Kane (20:54) ranks fourth.

KEEPING IT CLOSE
The Sabres and Panthers have had 13 of their last 17 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.

JACK ATTACK

• Jack Eichel enters tonight’s game with 11 points (4+7) in his last seven games, including five (2+3) during his current three-game point streak, which ties his longest streak of the season.
• Eichel entered play Monday tied for first among all NHL rookies with 13 goals and ranked fourth with 12 assists and 25 points.
• Eichel recorded a season-high four points (2+2) on Dec. 26 at Boston, becoming 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).

THE O’REILLY FACTOR

• Ryan O’Reilly has 16 points (8+8) in his last 16 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 fifth in the league in faceoff percentage entering Monday’s games. O’Reilly also led the league with 968 faceoffs taken, accounting for 41.7% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.

FINNISHING TOUCH

• Entering Monday’s games, Rasmus Ristolainen ranked in the top 10 among NHL defensemen in goals (T-10th, 7), assists (T-7th, 19), points (T-8th, 26), shots (9th, 99) 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 26 points (7+19) in 39 games, Ristolainen is on pace for 55 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.

JOHNNY ON THE SPOT
Chad Johnson has appeared in 15 games since the beginning of November, logging a 7-5-2 record with a .930 save percentage and a 2.10 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.

YOUNG GUNS

• If they maintain their current pace, Jack Eichel (13+12) and Sam Reinhart (9+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 (13) and Reinhart (9) 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.

THEY’VE GOT THE POWER
After going 3-for-9 in their last two games, the Sabres are 25-for-124 (20.2%) on the power play this season, ranked 10th in the league entering play Monday. Buffalo 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 20 of their first 39 games this season, posting a 6-13-1 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 39 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-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.

Zach Bogosian:

• Played with Al Montoya for the Winnipeg Jets from 2012-2014. The two also played together for the United States at the 2009 World Championship.

Carlo Colaiacovo:

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

Marcus Foligno:

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

Chad Johnson:

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

Evander Kane:

• Played with Al Montoya for the Winnipeg Jets from 2012-2014.

Jake McCabe:

• Represented the United States alongside Vincent Trochek at the 2013 World Junior Championship and the 2014 World Championship.

Matt Moulson:

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

Ryan O’Reilly:

• He and Aaron Ekblad share a birth date. 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.

Mike Weber:

• He and Vincent Trocheck were both born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

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.
• Tonight’s game features two players who were taken in the second round of the 2010 NHL Draft: Connor Brickley (50th overall) and Johan Larsson (56th overall by Minnesota).
• Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall) and Alexander Barkov (2nd overall) were both selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
• 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 (102), McGinn (88), Kane (75)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (92), Ristolainen (62), McCabe (48)
Shots: Eichel (126), Kane (110), Ristolainen (99)

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: 3-5-1 (7), 19/22, 3/30, 16/20

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 … 7 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
N/A