Game Preview: 3/22/16 at CAR

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, March 19
Buffalo 1 at Toronto 4
Goals: Gionta
Goalie: Johnson (27 saves/31 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 1/1; Shots: Toronto 31 – Buffalo 21

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 314)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 73 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Dec. 31; injured reserve) – 36 games
Cody Franson (neck, Feb. 21) – 14 games
Jason Kasdorf (lower body, March 16) – 3 games
Robin Lehner (ankle, March 18) – 2 games
Jack Eichel (illness, March 19) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/16: Activated F Ryan O’Reilly from IR; Assigned F Daniel Catenacci to Rochester (AHL)
3/18: Recalled D Chad Ruhwedel and G Nathan Lieuwen from Rochester (AHL)
3/19: Recalled F Daniel Catenacci from Rochester (AHL); Assigned D Chad Ruhwedel to Rochester (AHL)
3/20: Assigned F Daniel Catenacci to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, March 26: Winnipeg at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Monday, March 28: Buffalo at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, March 29: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 31: Toronto at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 2: Buffalo at NY Rangers, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at HURRICANES

• This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Hurricanes this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Carolina, 3-2 (OT), in Buffalo on March 12
• The Sabres are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Hurricanes; 4-5-1 on the road.
• This is the 195th game all-time between Buffalo and Carolina/Hartford; Buffalo has a 101-69-24 series record.
• The Sabres are 43-38-16 on the road against the Hurricanes/Whalers all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 10-5-1 all-time on March 22.
• March 22, 1977: Bob Sauve records his first NHL win in a 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Flames.
• March 22, 1992: Pat LaFontaine, Wayne Presley and Donald Audette score three times in a 39-second span, recording the fastest three goals in franchise history in a 6-2 win at Chicago.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres are looking for their fourth consecutive win against the Hurricanes for the first time since the team won five straight games against Carolina from April 18 to Dec. 28, 2006.
• Brian Gionta enters tonight’s game on a five-game point streak against the Hurricanes, with six points (3+3) in those games.
• Matt Moulson has 19 points (6+13) in his last 16 games against Carolina.
• Jack Eichel has three goals in two games against the Hurricanes this season, including two of his four career game-winning goals.
• Chad Johnson is 6-1-0 in seven career games against Carolina with a .930 save percentage and a 2.12 goals-against average.
• Evander Kane ranks third in the league with 4.2 shots per game.

JACK ATTACK

• With his goal on March 7 at Toronto, Jack Eichel (19 years, 131 days) became the youngest 20-goal scorer in Sabres history, besting Pierre Turgeon (19 years, 140 days on Jan. 15, 1989) by nine days.
• Eichel leads the Sabres with 22 goals this season, the highest total by a Sabres player since 2011-12 (Jason Pominville, 30) and the highest by a Sabres rookie since 2005-06 (Thomas Vanek, 25). If he finishes the season with the team lead, Eichel will be the first Sabres rookie to lead the team in goals since Ray Sheppard did so in the 1987-88 season.
• Entering play Monday, Eichel was ranked in the top five among NHL rookies in goals (2nd, 22), assists (3rd, 27), points (2nd, 49) and shots (1st, 218).
• With one more point this season, Eichel would become the ninth Sabres rookie to record 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).

YOUNG GUNS

• Jack Eichel (49 points) and Sam Reinhart (36) are the first pair of Sabres rookies to reach the 35-point mark since Ray Sheppard (65), Pierre Turgeon (42) and Calle Johansson (42) all did so in 1987-88.
• Eichel (22 goals) and Reinhart (20) are the third pair of rookies in Sabres history to each record 20 goals in the same season, joining Danny Gare (31) and Peter McNab (22) in 1974-75 and Gilbert Perreault (38) and Steve Atkinson (20) in 1970-71.

LOGGING BIG MINUTES

• Rasmus Ristolainen is ranked 12th in the NHL with an average ice time of 25:15 per game. Only Alexei Zhitnik (four times) has averaged more minutes per game in a full season with the Sabres.
• Ryan O’Reilly (21:48) leads all NHL forwards in average ice time per game and Evander Kane (21:12) ranks second. 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 23:37 per game in his 77 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).
• Jack Eichel’s average ice time of 19:08 is the ninth-highest ever recorded by a rookie forward and the highest ever by Sabres rookie forward, topping the next highest (Cody Hodgson- 20 GP, 17:16) by more than a minute. Sam Reinhart (16:46 this season) is the only other Sabres rookie forward to top 16 minutes per game.

Note: The NHL began tracking ice time in the 1997-98 season.

OUTSHOOTING OPPONENTS
The Sabres have outshot their opponents in 31 of 73 games this season, posting an 9-18-4 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 26 of the team’s 73 games this season, going 10-12-4 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-CAR CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres: 

• Nathan Gerbe was a member of the Sabres for five seasons from 2008-2013. He was selected by Buffalo in the fifth round (142nd overall) of the 2005 NHL Draft and tallied 72 points (29+43) in 188 games with the club.

Dan Bylsma:

• Coached Jordan Staal for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2009-2012.

Zach Bogosian:

• Represented the United States alongside Ron Hainsey at the 2009 World Championship. Bogosian and Hainsey also played together from 2008-2013 for the Atlanta Thrashers/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 taken 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.

Chad Johnson:

• He and Cam Ward were both born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Evander Kane:

• Played with Ron Hainsey from 2009-2013 for the Atlanta Thrashers/Winnipeg Jets.
• Played with Jeff Skinner for Team Canada at the 2011 and 2012 World Championships. Cam Ward was also on the 2012 squad.

Ryan O’Reilly:     

• Played with Jay McClement (2010-2012) and Brad Malone (2011-2014) for the Colorado Avalanche.
• Played with Jeff Skinner for Team Canada at the 2012 and 2013 World Championships. Cam Ward was also on the team in 2012 and Jordan Staal was 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 (175), Kane (166), Foligno (158)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (146), Ristolainen (121), McCabe (99)
Shots: Kane (260), Eichel (218), Ristolainen (184)

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: 4-3-3 (11), 29/30, 6/34, 30/33
61-70: 4-4-2 (10), 23/24, 3/30, 17/24
71-80: 1-1-1 (3), 7/7, 2/9, 10/11

OVERTIME RESULTS (4-3; 101-105 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)
March 1 vs. EDM: L, 2-1 (GWG-McDavid, 3:48)
March 12 vs. CAR: W, 3-2 (GWG-Eichel, 4:59)
March 16 vs. MTL: L, 3-2 (GWG-Byron, 3:15)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (2-6; 67-57 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)
Feb. 16 at OTT: L, 2-1 (GDG-Ryan)
March 5 vs. MIN: L, 3-2 (GDG-Pominville)
March 7 at TOR: W, 4-3 (GDG-Reinhart)

UPCOMING MILESTONES (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Chad Johnson … 6 games … 100 career games played
Zemgus Girgensons … 7 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Johan Larsson … 1 goal … 7 goals (career high)
Mark Pysyk … 2 goals … 3 goals (career high)
Assists
Mark Pysyk … 1 assist … 7 assists (career high)
Josh Gorges … 2 assists … 100 career assists
Marcus Foligno … 3 assists … 14 assists (career high)
Ryan O’Reilly … 5 assists … 39 assists (career high)
Points
Mark Pysyk … 1 point … 8 points (career high)
Ryan O’Reilly … 3 points … 300 career points
Wins
Chad Johnson … 1 win … 18 wins (career high)

RECENT MILESTONES
Marcus Foligno … 21 points (career high) … March 19 at TOR