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LAST GAME
Tuesday, February 9
Florida 7 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Reinhart (2), Kane, Weber
Goalie: Lehner (8 saves/12 shots); Johnson (20 saves/22 shots)
PP: 2/4; PK: 1/1; Shots: Florida 35 – Buffalo 34
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 236)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 54 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Dec. 31; injured reserve) – 17 games
Zemgus Girgensons (lower body, Feb. 9; injured reserve) – 1 game
Johan Larsson (lower body, Feb. 9) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/5: Recalled F Daniel Catenacci from Rochester (AHL)
2/10: Recalled F Justin Bailey from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Zemgus Girgensons on IR
UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Feb. 12: Montreal at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 14: Colorado at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 16: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 19: Buffalo at Columbus, 7 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 21: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 12:30 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at FLYERS
- This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Flyers this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Philadelphia, 3-1, in Buffalo on Oct. 30
- The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Flyers; 4-6-0 on the road.
- This is the 170th game all-time between Buffalo and Philadelphia; Buffalo has a 66-80-23 series record.
- The Sabres are 25-48-13 on the road against the Flyers all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 4-8-6 all-time on February 12.
- February 12, 1983: Craig Ramsay (broken foot) sees his consecutive games played streak end at 776 games, missing his first game in nearly 10 years.
- February 12, 2008: Thomas Vanek scores his first career hat trick, leading the Sabres to a 5-1 win at Ottawa.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- After earning two straight road wins against the Flyers for the first time since Nov. 14 and 27, 2009, the Sabres are looking for wins in three consecutive visits to Philadelphia for the first time since Dec. 19, 2005 to Nov. 11, 2006.
- Ryan O’Reilly has nine points (3+6) in nine career games against Philadelphia.
- Brian Gionta has a point in each of his last three games against the Flyers (1+2) and six (2+4) in his last seven.
- If he dresses, tonight will be Mark Pysyk’s 100th NHL game.
- Sam Reinhart enters tonight’s game on a career-best, three-game point streak (4+0).
- Entering play Wednesday, Evander Kane ranked third in the league with 4.1 shots per game.
- Ryan O’Reilly (56.8%) ranked 10th in the league in faceoff percentage entering play Wednesday. O’Reilly leads the league with 1,370 faceoffs taken, accounting for 42.2% of Buffalo’s total faceoffs.
SEEKING A SWEEP
The Sabres enter tonight’s game with wins in three consecutive matchups with the Flyers for the first time since Nov. 14, 2009 to March 5, 2010. A win tonight would give the Sabres their first season sweep against the Flyers since 2001-02 and would stretch that streak to four in a row for the first time since the team won five straight from Oct. 20, 2001 to Oct. 22, 2002.
LOCAL KID MAKES GOOD
- If he makes his NHL debut tonight, Justin Bailey will become the fourth Buffalo-born player to appear in a regular-season game for the Sabres, joining Patrick Kaleta, Tim Kennedy and Scott Thomas.
- Aside from these three, 10 other Sabres players in franchise history have been born in New York State:
- Peter Ciavaglia (Albany); Jerry D’Amigo (Binghamton); Zach Bogosian and Mike Hurlbut (Massena); Tracey Pratt (New York City); Rory Fitzpatrick, Brian Gionta and Derek Whitmore (Rochester); Tim Connolly (Syracuse); Connor Knapp (York)
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s 10th of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, which concludes with a game tomorrow night at home against Montreal. The Sabres are 3-6-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 4-4-1 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets this season is: four points (1), three points (1), two points (4), one point (0) and zero points (3).
LOGGING BIG MINUTES
- Rasmus Ristolainen was ranked 11th in the NHL entering play Wednesday with an average ice time of 25:13 per game. Only Alexei Zhitnik (four times) has averaged more minutes per game in a full season with the Sabres.
- Before Wednesday night’s games, Ryan O’Reilly (21:54) led all NHL forwards in average ice time per game and Evander Kane (20:57) ranked third. The pair currently own the two highest average career ice times by Sabres forwards. Michael Peca (20:18) is the only other forward with an average over 20 minutes.
- With an average ice time of 23:45 per game in his 58 games played since joining the Sabres last season, Zach Bogosian owns the third-highest average ice time ever recorded by a Sabres player, trailing only Alexei Zhitnik (531 GP, 25:32) and Christian Ehrhoff (192 GP, 23:55).
Note: The NHL began tracking ice time in the 1997-98 season.
FINISHING STRONG AFTER THE BREAK
Buffalo is 555-425-193 (.555) all-time in games after the All-Star break. This includes a record of 104-72-31 (.577) in those games since the lockout. The Sabres are 1-1-2 (.500) since the All-Star break so far this season.
Note: These totals do not include games after breaks for the Olympic Games.
YOUNG GUNS
- Jack Eichel enters tonight’s game with 22 points (7+15) in his last 22 games, a stretch which included a career-best, four-game point streak (2+4) from Dec. 30 to Jan. 5.
- Eichel entered Wednesday night ranked in the top five among NHL rookies in goals (T-3rd, 16), assists (T-3rd, 20), points (3rd, 36) and shots (1st, 160).
- If they maintain their current pace, Eichel (16+20) and Sam Reinhart (16+9) 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 (16) and Reinhart (16) are also 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.
- With 36 points (16+20) in 54 games, Eichel is on pace for 55 points this season. If he reaches the 50-point mark, he will become the ninth Sabres rookie to record more than 50 points in a season. He would be the first since Derek Plante (1993-94) and the second-youngest to do so, trailing only Phil Housley (1982-83).
FINNISHING TOUCH
- Entering play Wednesday, Rasmus Ristolainen ranked in the top 15 among NHL defensemen in goals (T-15th, 8), assists (T-9th, 25), points (T-10th, 33), shots (10th, 129), time on ice per game (11th, 25:13) and multi-point games (T-10th, 7).
- Ristolainen is the first Sabres defenseman to record seven multi-point games in a season since Jordan Leopold in 2010-11. Jaroslav Spacek (10 multi-point games in 2008-09) was the last Sabres defenseman to record more than seven.
- His four power-play goals are the most by a Sabres defenseman since 2010-11 (Jordan Leopold, 5).
- With 33 points (8+25) in 54 games, Ristolainen is on pace for 50 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.
OUTSHOOTING OPPONENTS
The Sabres have outshot their opponents in 23 of 54 games this season, posting a 7-15-1 record in those games. Last season, the team finished the season 5-5-0 in 10 total games when outshooting their opponents.
POSSESSION PROGRESSION
The Sabres have led their opponent in even-strength shot attempts (corsi) in 22 of the team’s 54 games this season, going 9-10-3 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-PHI CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Buffalo acquired Michal Neuvirth from the Washington Capitals on March 5, 2014 and the goalie went on to post a 6-19-3 record with a .921 save percentage and a 2.96 goals-against average in 29 games for the Sabres.
Former Flyers:
- Carlo Colaicovo spent the 2014-15 season with Philadelphia, registering eight points (2+6) in 33 games.
Marcus Foligno:
- Foligno and Sam Gagner were both born on Aug. 10. Gagner was born on Aug. 10, 1989, and Foligno was born two years later on Aug. 10, 1991.
- Played with Brayden Schenn and Sean Couturier for Team Canada in the 2011 World Junior Championship, which took place in Buffalo.
Cody Franson:
- Teammates with Nick Schultz for Team Canada at the 2002 World Junior Championship.
- Represented Team Canada alongside Sam Gagner at the 2007 World Junior Championship.
Brian Gionta:
- Played with Ryan White for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2014.
Josh Gorges:
- Played with Mark Streit for Montreal Canadiens during the 2007-08 season..
- Played with Ryan White for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2014.
Chad Johnson:
- He and Brayden Schenn were both born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- Played with Michael Del Zotto for the New York Rangers from 2009-2011. They also represented Team Canada together at the 2010 World championship.
Evander Kane:
- Teammates with Michael Del Zotto for Team Canada at the 2010 World Championship.
Matt Moulson:
- Played with Mark Streit for the New York Islanders from 2009-2013.
- He and Wayne Simmonds were teammates for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2008-09 season.
Sam Reinhart:
- Played with Scott Laughton for Team Canada at the 2014 World Junior Championship
Mike Weber:
- Weber and RJ Umberger were both born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
NHL Draft:
- Carlo Colaiacovo (17th overall by Toronto) was taken one pick after RJ Umberger (16th overall by Vancouver) in the first round of the 2001 NHL Draft.
- Jamie McGinn (36th overall by San Jose) and Michal Neuvirth (34th overall by Washington) were both second-round picks in the 2006 NHL Draft.
- Zach Bogosian (3rd overall) and Michael Del Zotto (20th) overall were both first-round selections in the 2008 NHL Draft.
- Evander Kane (4th overall by Atlanta) and Brayden Schenn (5th overall by Los Angeles) were taken in consecutive picks during the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
- Daniel Catenacci (77th overall) and Nick Cousins (68th overall) were both taken in the third round of the 2011 NHL Draft. They were also teammates for Sault Ste. Marie (OHL) from 2009-2011 and for Team Canada at the 2011 World U18 Championship.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Kane (120), Deslauriers (114), Foligno (109)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (108), Ristolainen (85), McCabe (62)
Shots: Kane (181), Eichel (160), Ristolainen (129)
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: 3-6-1 (7), 20/27, 4/35, 17/21
41-50: 5-5-0 (10), 22/26, 6/25, 26/28
51-60: 1-1-2 (4), 10/14, 3/13, 8/9
OVERTIME RESULTS (2-2; 100-103 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)
Feb. 6 at BOS: L, 2-1 (GWG-Marchand, 2:32)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-4; 66-55 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)
Feb. 4 vs. BOS: L, 3-2 (GDG-Spooner)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Mark Pysyk … 1 game … 100 career games played
Brian Gionta … 4 games … 900 career games played
Robin Lehner … 6 games … 100 career games played
Assists
Josh Gorges … 3 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Ryan O’Reilly … 9 points … 300 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
Daniel Catenacci … 1st NHL Game … Feb. 6 at BOS
