Game Preview: 10/16/16 at EDM

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Thursday, October 13
Montreal 4 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Moulson
Goalie: Lehner (20 saves/24 shots)
PP: 1/5; PK: 2/2; Shots: Buffalo 31 – Montreal 24

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 4)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clots, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 1 game
Jack Eichel (high-ankle sprain, Oct. 13) – 1 game
Dmitry Kulikov (tailbone, Oct. 13) – 1 game
Kyle Okposo (knee, Oct. 13) – 1 game
Evander Kane (cracked ribs, Oct. 16) – 0 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/11: Signed D Rasmus Ristolainen to a six-year contract ($5.4 million per year); assigned F Nicholas Baptiste, F Daniel Catenacci, F Alexander Nylander and D Justin Falk to Rochester (AHL); assigned D Brendan Guhle to Prince Albert (WHL)
10/15: Recalled F Nicholas Baptiste from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Oct. 18: Buffalo at Calgary, 9 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 20: Buffalo at Vancouver, 10 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 25: Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 27: Minnesota at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 29: Florida at Buffalo, 1 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at OILERS

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Oilers this season.
• Last meeting: Edmonton defeated Buffalo, 2-1 (OT), in Buffalo on March 1
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 6 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Oilers; 4-5-1 on the road.
• This is the 72nd game all-time between Buffalo and Edmonton; Buffalo has a 22-38-11 series record.
• The Sabres are 9-23-3 on the road against the Oilers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 6-9-3 all-time on October 16.
• October 13, 1982: Phil Housley records first career NHL goal in a 9-2 win at Washington.
• October 13, 2009: Jason Pominville scores his 100th career NHL goal in a 6-3 win at home against the New York Islanders.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight’s game is the first in a three-game western swing. The team will visit Calgary on Tuesday night before heading to Vancouver for a matchup with the Canucks on Thursday.
• Despite their 7-4-1 record and plus-12 goal differential (38-26) in their last 12 games against Edmonton, the Sabres need a win tonight to avoid losing five straight games to the Oilers for the first time since they lost seven in a row from March 14, 1987 to Nov. 13, 1988.
• Matt Moulson enters tonight’s game with a point in each of his last three games dating back to last season and four goals in his last seven games.
• Tonight is Ryan O’Reilly’s 500th NHL game. The last player to reach this milestone as a member of the Sabres was Matt Moulson, on Dec. 4, 2015 vs. Arizona.

HOT AGAINST EDMONTON

• Ryan O’Reilly has 16 points (6+10) in his last 16 games against the Oilers, including at least a point in each of his last three (3+2). He has points in five of his last six visits to Edmonton, totaling 10 points in that span (2+8).
• Kyle Okposo has eight points (5+3) in eight career games against Edmonton. He tied his career high with four points (3+1), including his second career hat trick, when he faced the Oilers on Feb. 7.
• Zach Bogosian has a point in four of the five games he’s played in Edmonton in his career (1+3).
• Cody Franson has recorded two assists against the Oilers three different times in his career and has five assists in his last five games against Edmonton.
• Brian Gionta has five points (1+4) in his last five games against the Oilers, including three assists in his last two games in Edmonton.

ON THE ROAD AGAIN

• Tonight marks the 46th road-opener in Buffalo Sabres franchise history.
• Buffalo is 18-26-1 all-time in road-openers.
• The Sabres have previously opened their road schedule against the Oilers twice in franchise history: Oct. 4, 1996 (4-3 loss), Oct. 13, 2000 (3-2 loss).

GRANT EXPECTATIONS
Derek Grant led all Sabres with six points (3+3) and tied for the Sabres’ team-high with a plus-four rating in six preseason games to cement his place on the team’s opening-day roster. Grant had a career year with the Stockton Heat (AHL) in 2015-16, recording AHL career-high totals in all offensive categories and tying for sixth in the league in goals (27) despite appearing in just 36 games.

ONE BUFFALO

• The Sabres and the Buffalo Bills are playing on the same day for the first time of three times this season after doing so three times last season. The other two dates are Oct. 30 and Nov. 7.
• The teams have played on the same date 212 times, with both teams winning their respective games on 47 of those days.
• The Sabres are 113-66-33 when playing on a Bills game day and the Bills are 90-120-2 on those dates.

2016 PRESEASON

• Buffalo finished the preseason with a 4-2-1 record; 2-2-0 at home and 2-0-1 on the road.
• Derek Grant led all Sabres and tied for third in the league in goals (3) and fourth in the league in points (6) in six preseason games.
• Robin Lehner (3-0-0, .960, 1.33) and Anders Nilsson (1-0-0, .980, 0.57) combined to post a 4-0-0 record with a .967 save percentage, a 1.05 goals-against average and two shutouts.
• The Sabres ranked eighth in the league with a penalty kill percentage of 88.9 percent, killing off 24 of 27 power play opportunities.

2016-17 ROSTER NOTES

Of the 23 players on Buffalo’s opening night roster:

• Seven were originally drafted by the Sabres — five were first-round Buffalo selections (Ennis, 2008; Girgensons, 2012; Ristolainen, 2013; Reinhart, 2014; Eichel, 2015), one was a second-round pick (McCabe, 2012) and one was a fourth-round pick (Foligno, 2009)
• 10 were acquired in trades: Bogosian, Deslauriers, Fasching, Gorges, Kane, Kulikov, Larsson, Lehner, Nilsson, O’Reilly
• Six were signed as free agents: Franson, Gionta, Grant, Moulson, Nelson, Okposo
• 19 played in Buffalo at some point last season (12 forwards, six defenseman, one goaltender)
• Four are new to the Sabres this season: Grant, Kulikov, Nilsson, Okposo
• Three are opening the season on an NHL roster for the first time in their careers: Fasching, Grant, Nelson

BUF-EDM CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Buffalo drafted Andrej Sekera in the third round (71st overall) of the 2004 NHL Draft and he went on to play seven seasons in blue and gold. The defenseman had 92 points (17+75) and a plus-6 rating in 339 games for the Sabres.
• Drafted by the Sabres in the first round (13th overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft, Zack Kassian played in 27 games for the Sabres during the 2011-12 season. He had seven points (3+4) in 27 games.

Former Oilers:

• Anders Nilsson played for the Oilers during the 2015-16 season, posting a 10-12-2 record with a .901 save percentage and a 3.14 goals-against average.

Dan Bylsma:

• Coached Mark Letestu for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2009-2011.

Tyler Ennis

• He was born in Edmonton, as was Andrew Ference.
• Played with Kris Russell for the Medicine Hat Tigers from 2005-2007.

Cody Franson:

• Played with Milan Lucic for the Vancouver Giants (WHL) from 2004-2007.

Brian Gionta:

• Played with Benoit Pouliot for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2011.

Josh Gorges:

• Played with Benoit Pouliot for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2011.

Derek Grant:

• Teammates with Eric Gryba for the Ottawa Senators from 2012-2014.

Robin Lehner:

• Teammates with Eric Gryba for the Ottawa Senators from 2012-2015.

International Teammates:

• 2007 World Junior Championship (Canada): Cody Franson and Kris Russell
• 2009 World Junior Championship (Canada): Tyler Ennis and Jordan Eberle
• 2010 World Junior Championship (Sweden): Anders Nilsson and Anton Lander
• 2011 World Junior Championship (Sweden): Johan Larsson, Robin Lehner and Anton Lander
• 2011 World Junior Championship (Canada): Marcus Foligno and Zack Kassian
• 2012 World Championship (Canada): Ryan O’Reilly, Jordan Eberle and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins
• 2013 World Championship (Canada): Ryan O’Reilly and Jordan Eberle
• 2014 World Junior Championship (Canada): Sam Reinhart and Connor McDavid
• 2015 World Junior Championship (Canada): Sam Reinhart, Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse
• 2015 World Championship (Sweden): Anders Nilsson, Oscar Klefbom and Anton Lander
• 2016 World Championship (Canada): Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Reinhart, Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot

NHL Draft:

• Zach Bogosian (3rd overall), Tyler Ennis (26th overall) and Jordan Eberle (22nd overall) were all drafted in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft.
• Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall) was taken one pick after Darnell Nurse (7th overall) in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
• Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) was taken one pick before Leon Draisaitl (3rd overall) in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft.
• Jack Eichel (2nd overall) and Connor McDavid (1st overall) were the top two picks in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (6), Foligno (4), Kane (3)
Blocked Shots: Bogosian (2), Six Tied (1)
Shots: Ristolainen (5), Deslauriers (4), Moulson (4)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 0-1-0 (0),1/4, 1/5, 2/2

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-0; 102-105 all-time)
N/A

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-0; 67-58 all-time)
N/A

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Ryan O’Reilly … 1 game … 500 career games played
Rasmus Ristolainen … 5 games … 200 career games played
Goals
Tyler Ennis … 8 goals … 100 career goals
Assists
Ryan O’Reilly … 5 assists … 200 career assists
Points
Marcus Foligno … 7 points … 100 career assists

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A