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LAST GAME
Thursday, March 31
Toronto 1 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Larsson (2), C. O’Reilly (2)
Goalie: Johnson (25 saves/26 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 3/3; Shots: Buffalo 37 – Toronto 26
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 341)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clot, Oct. 8; injured reserve) – 78 games
Tyler Ennis (upper body, Dec. 31; injured reserve) – 41 games
Cody Franson (neck, Feb. 21) – 19 games
Jason Kasdorf (lower body, March 16) – 8 games
Robin Lehner (ankle, March 18) – 7 games
Evander Kane (upper body, March 29) – 2 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
REMAINING GAMES
Tuesday, April 5: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Friday, April 8: Columbus at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, April 9: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 7:30 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at RANGERS
- This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Rangers this season.
- Last meeting: New York defeated Buffalo, 4-2, in Buffalo on March 8
- The Sabres are 1-9-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Rangers; 3-4-3 on the road.
- This is the 174th game all-time between Buffalo and New York; Buffalo has a 78-62-33 series record.
- The Sabres are 31-34-20 on the road against the Rangers all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-5-3 all-time on April 2.
- April 2, 2013: Mark Pysyk records his first NHL point with an assist in a 4-1 win at Pittsburgh.
- April 2, 2013: Ryan Miller plays his 492nd game in the NHL, breaking Dominik Hasek’s franchise record for most games played by a goaltender.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres went 7-4-4 (.600) in March, making it the team’s best month since April 2013 (8-4-0).
- Buffalo needs a win tonight to avoid the team’s first 10-game losing streak to the Rangers in franchise history. The Sabres have not gone 10 straight games against the Rangers without a point since going 0-10-2 in the first 12 meetings in franchise history, spanning the 1970-71 and 1971-72 seasons.
- Jack Eichel has three assists in two games against the Rangers this season.
- Zach Bogosian has a point in each of his last two games against the Rangers.
- Brian Gionta has 11 points (6+5) in his last 13 games against the Rangers, including six (3+3) in his last five at Madison Square Garden.
- Chad Johnson is 8-2-1 in his last 12 appearances with a .923 save percentage and a 2.24 goals-against average. If he plays tonight, it will be his 100th NHL game.
20 UNDER 25
- The Sabres currently have three skaters under the age of 25 with at least 20 goals: Jack Eichel (23), Sam Reinhart (22) and Evander Kane (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 two more goals this season, the Sabres will have four 20-goal scorers in their age 25 seasons* or younger 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 Friday, Eichel was ranked in the top five among NHL rookies in goals (2nd, 23), assists (4th, 28), points (2nd, 51) and shots (1st, 230).
- 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 (51 points) and Sam Reinhart (40) 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 (22) 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 11th in the NHL with an average ice time of 25:16 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 (21:02) 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 82 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 (16:47 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 33 of 78 games this season, posting an 11-18-4 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 28 of the team’s 78 games this season, going 12-12-4 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-NYR CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Dominic Moore was a member of the Sabres for part of the 2008-09 season, contributing four points (1+3) in 18 games.
Former Rangers:
- Dave Barr played six games for New York during the 1983-84 season.
- Chad Johnson played six games for the rangers from 2009 to 2011 and posted a 4-1-1 record with a 2.59 goals-against average and a .911 save percentage.
Local Players:
- Dan Girardi was born in Welland, Ontario.
Dan Bylsma:
- Coached Tanner Glass for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2012-2014.
Zach Bogosian:
- Played with Tanner Glass for the Winnipeg Jets during the 2011-12 season.
Brian Gionta:
- Played with Dominic Moore for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2009-10 season.
Johan Larsson:
- Played with Jesper Fast and Oscar Lindberg for Team Sweden at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.
Jake McCabe:
- Teammates with J.T. Miller for the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship.
- Played with Kevin Hayes for the United States at the 2014 World Championship.
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Played with Eric Staal for Team Canada at the 2013 World Championship.
NHL Draft:
- Matt Moulson (263rd overall) and Tanner Glass (265th overall) were both chosen in the ninth round of the 2003 NHL Draft.
- Mark Pysyk (23rd overall) was taken one pick before Kevin Hayes (24th overall) in the first round of the 2010 NHL Draft.
- Johan Larsson (56th overall) was selected one pick before Oscar Lindberg (57th overall) in the second round of the 2010 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (197), Foligno (178), Kane (171)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (161), Ristolainen (130), McCabe (104)
Shots: Kane (271), Eichel (230), Ristolainen (196)
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: 4-2-2 (10), 23/20, 5/25, 23/25
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 (2-7; 67-58 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)
March 29 at PIT: L, 5-4 (GDG-Letang)
UPCOMING MILESTONES (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Chad Johnson … 1 games … 100 career games played
Zemgus Girgensons … 2 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Mark Pysyk … 2 goals … 3 goals (career high)
Assists
Josh Gorges … 1 assist … 100 career assists
Marcus Foligno … 1 assist … 14 assists (career high)
Ryan O’Reilly … 1 assist … 39 assists (career high)
Points
Johan Larsson … 2 points … 17 points (career high)
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
Ryan O’Reilly … 300th NHL point … March 29 at PIT
