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LAST GAME
Saturday, March 26
Winnipeg 2 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Fasching, Reinhart, Eichel
Goalie: Johnson (17 saves/19 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 1/1; Shots: Buffalo 29 – Winnipeg 19
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 324)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 75 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Dec. 31; injured reserve) – 38 games
Cody Franson (neck, Feb. 21) – 16 games
Jason Kasdorf (lower body, March 16) – 5 games
Robin Lehner (ankle, March 18) – 4 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/22: Signed D Casey Nelson to an entry-level contract
3/25: Signed F Eric Cornel to an entry-level contract
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Tuesday, April 5: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Friday, April 8: Columbus at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at RED WINGS
- This is the fifth and final meeting between the Sabres and Red Wings this season.
- Last meeting: Detroit defeated Buffalo, 3-0, in Buffalo on Jan. 22
- The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Red Wings; 2-6-2 on the road.
- This is the 129th game all-time between Buffalo and Detroit; Buffalo has a 55-56-17 series record.
- The Sabres are 20-38-8 on the road against the Red Wings all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 11-8-4 all-time on March 28.
- March 28, 1982: Fred T. Hunt and Tim Horton are both posthumously inducted into the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame. The pair became the fourth and fifth members, joining Roger Crozier, Frank Christie and Punch Imlach.
- March 28, 1999: Alexei Zhitnik scores the 8,000th goal in franchise history in a 4-3 overtime win at home against Pittsburgh.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- A win tonight would 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.
- A win would also give the Sabres their second consecutive road win against the Red Wings for the first time since Nov. 25 and Dec. 12, 1981, the last two games of a five-game winning streak at Detroit.
- Rasmus Ristolainen has five assists in four games against the Red Wings this season.
- Sam Reinhart has a point in each of his last two games against Detroit.
- Evander Kane ranks third in the league with 4.2 shots per game.
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s 14th of 15 sets of back-to-back games this season, which continues tomorrow night at Pittsburgh. The Sabres are 6-7-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 5-7-1 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 (8), one point (0) and zero points (3).
20 UNDER 25
- The Sabres currently have three skaters under the age of 25 with at least 20 goals: Jack Eichel (23), Evander Kane (21) and Sam Reinhart (20)
- It is the first time Buffalo has had three players reach the 20-goal mark before their 25th birthdays since Jason Pominville, Derek Roy and Thomas Vanek each had 20 or more in 2006-07.
- If Ryan O’Reilly scores three more goals this season, the Sabres will have four 20-goal scorers under 25* for the first time since 1987-88 (Dave Andreychuk, Phil Housley, Christian Ruuttu and Ray Sheppard).
*All ages used are the players’ ages as of Feb. 1 of the given season
JACK ATTACK
- Jack Eichel leads the Sabres with 23 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 Sunday, Eichel was ranked in the top five among NHL rookies in goals (2nd, 23), assists (4th, 27), points (2nd, 50) and shots (1st, 220).
- With his goal on March 7 at Toronto, 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.
- With his goal on March 26 vs. Winnipeg, Eichel became the ninth Sabres rookie to record 50 points in a season. He is the first to do so since Derek Plante (1993-94) and the second-youngest to do so, trailing only Phil Housley (1982-83).
YOUNG GUNS
- Jack Eichel (50 points) and Sam Reinhart (39) 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 (23 goals) and Reinhart (21) 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 25:12 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 (21:11) 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 79 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 19:06 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 (16:45 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.
POSSESSION PROGRESSION
- The Sabres have outshot their opponents in 32 of 75 games this season, posting a 10-18-4 record in those games. Last season, the team finished the season 5-5-0 in 10 total games when outshooting their opponents.
- The Sabres have led their opponent in even-strength shot attempts (corsi) in 27 of the team’s 75 games this season, going 11-12-4 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-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.
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.
Matt Moulson
- Played with Kyle Quincey for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2008-09 season.
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 both 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 (185), Kane (170), Foligno (165)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (149), Ristolainen (124), McCabe (100)
Shots: Kane (270), Eichel (220), Ristolainen (186)
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: 2-1-1 (5), 10/9, 2/13, 12/13
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 … 4 games … 100 career games played
Zemgus Girgensons … 5 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Mark Pysyk … 2 goals … 3 goals (career high)
Assists
Josh Gorges … 2 assists … 100 career assists
Marcus Foligno … 2 assists … 14 assists (career high)
Ryan O’Reilly … 4 assists … 39 assists (career high)
Points
Ryan O’Reilly … 2 points … 300 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
Hudson Fasching … 1st NHL game … March 26 vs. WPG
Hudson Fasching … 1st NHL goal … March 26 vs. WPG
Casey Nelson … 1st NHL game … March 26 vs. WPG
Casey Nelson … 1st NHL assist … March 26 vs. WPG
