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LAST GAME
Sunday, October 16
Buffalo 6 at Edmonton 2
Goals: O’Reilly (2), Gionta (2), Okposo, Moulson
Goalie: Lehner (31 saves/33 shots)
PP: 2/6; PK: 1/1; Shots: Edmonton 33 – Buffalo 24
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 7)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clots, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 2 games
Jack Eichel (high-ankle sprain, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 2 games
Evander Kane (cracked ribs, Oct. 16) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/15: Recalled F Nicholas Baptiste from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Jack Eichel on IR
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Sunday, Oct. 30: Buffalo at Winnipeg, 3 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at FLAMES
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Flames this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Calgary, 6-3, in Buffalo on March 3
- Next meeting: Monday, Nov. 21 in Buffalo
- The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flames; 2-8-0 on the road.
- This is the 104th game all-time between Buffalo and Calgary/Atlanta; Buffalo has a 50-36-17 series record.
- The Sabres are 18-23-11 at home against the Flames all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 10-5-3 all-time on October 18.
- October 18, 1970: Gerry Meehan scores the first ever Sabres goal at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium at 5:48 of the second period against Pittsburgh.
- October 18, 2003: Mika Noronen stops all 20 Flames shots to record his second career shutout in a 2-0 Sabres win at Calgary.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- Tonight’s game is the second in a three-game western swing after Buffalo’s 6-2 win at Edmonton on Sunday. The team will wrap up the road trip on Thursday in Vancouver.
- The home team has won 16 of the last 18 games between these teams, dating back to the 1999-00 season. The Sabres’ last win in Calgary came 13 years ago today.
- With a win tonight, the Sabres would have consecutive wins against the Flames for the first time since the team won four in a row from March 18, 2000 to Nov. 23, 2001.
- Matt Moulson enters tonight’s game with a point in each of his last four games dating back to last season and five goals in his last eight games.
TORCHING THE FLAMES
- Ryan O’Reilly has 12 points (3+9) in his last nine games against the Flames, including five multi-point efforts. He enters tonight’s game on a four-game point streak against Calgary, having tallied seven points (1+6) in those four games.
- Kyle Okposo has seven points (1+6) in his last seven games against the Flames.
- Rasmus Ristolainen has four goals in his last two games against the Flames, including his first career hat trick in Calgary on Dec. 10, 2015.
- Tyler Ennis has four assists in his last two games against the Flames.
- Zach Bogosian has three assists in his last two games against the Flames.
- Marcus Foligno has four points (2+2) in his last three games against the Flames.
ROAD WARRIORS
- With his career-best four-point (2+2) night against the Oilers on Sunday, Ryan O’Reilly continued a seven-game road point streak that dates back to March 22 at Carolina. In those seven road games, O’Reilly has totaled 12 points (6+6). His record for most consecutive road games with a point is 10 games, which he set from Feb. 20 to March 26, 2015.
- Kyle Okposo has points in each of his last four road games, including two-point nights in each of the last three. In his last 13 road games, he has totaled 15 points (6+9), including six two-point games.
- Brian Gionta has nine points (6+9) in his last nine road games, including two-goal efforts in each of his last two. With a point tonight, he would have at least 10 points in his last 10 road games for the first time since he recorded 11 points in 10 road games from April 2 to Nov. 10, 2011.
- Johan Larsson has six points (2+4) in his last six road games, including at least a point in each of the last four.
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 opened the season on an NHL roster for the first time in their careers: Fasching, Grant, Nelson
BUF-CGY CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Goaltender Chad Johnson was a member of the Sabres’ organization for parts of two seasons from 2015-2016. He posted a career-high 22 wins with a .920 save percentage and a 2.36 goals-against average in 45 games for Buffalo during the 2015-16 season.
- Dennis Wideman was originally drafted by the Sabres in the eighth round (241st overall) of the 2002 NHL Draft, but did not play any games as a member of the club.
Former Flames:
- Derek Grant spent the 2015-16 season in the Flames’ organization, posting one assist in 15 games for Calgary and 45 points (27+18) in 36 games for the Stockton Heat (AHL).
Dan Bylsma:
- Coached Deryk Engelland for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2009-2014
Zach Bogosian:
- Played with Michael Frolik for the Winnipeg Jets from 2013-2015.
Tyler Ennis:
- He and Deryk Engelland were both born in Edmonton, Alberta.
Cody Franson:
- Played with Lance Bouma for the Vancouver Giants (WHL) from 2005-2007.
Dmitry Kulikov:
- Teammates with Michael Frolik for the Florida Panthers from 2009-2011 and with Kris Versteeg for Florida from 2012-2014. Dennis Wideman was also on the team for most of the 2010-11 season.
Robin Lehner:
- Teammates with Brian Elliot for the Ottawa Senators during the 2010-11 season.
- Played with Alex Chiasson for the Ottawa Senators during the 2014-15 season.
Jake McCabe:
- Represented the United States alongside Johnny Gaudreau at the 2013 World Junior Championship and again at the 2014 World Championship.
Anders Nilsson:
- Represented Team Sweden alongside Mikael Backlund at the 2010 and 2014 World Championships.
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Played with TJ Brodie for Team Canada at the 2013 World Championship.
- Teammates with Brian Elliot for the Colorado Avalanche during part of the 2010-11 season.
NHL Draft:
- Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall) and Sean Monahan (6th overall) were both selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
- Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) was taken two picks before Sam Bennett (4th overall) in the 2014 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (8), Gorges (5), Foligno (4)
Blocked Shots: Ristolainen (5), Bogosian/Foligno/Gorges/Larsson (3)
Shots: Ristolainen (7), Moulson (7), Ennis (5)
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 1-1-0 (2),7/6, 3/11, 3/3
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
Rasmus Ristolainen … 4 games … 200 NHL games
Sam Reinhart … 10 games … 100 NHL games
Goals
Tyler Ennis … 8 goals … 100 NHL goals
Assists
Ryan O’Reilly … 3 assists … 200 NHL assists
Points
Marcus Foligno … 6 points … 100 NHL points
RECENT MILESTONES
Ryan O’Reilly … 500th NHL game … 10/16 at EDM
