Game Preview: 10/20/16 at VAN

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Tuesday, October 18
Buffalo 3 at Calgary 4 (OT)
Goals: Girgensons, O’Reilly, Foligno
Goalie: Lehner (30 saves/34 shots)
PP: 1/5; PK: 6/6; Shots: Calgary 34 – Buffalo 21

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 10)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clots, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 3 games
Jack Eichel (high-ankle sprain, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 3 games
Evander Kane (cracked ribs, Oct. 16) – 2 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/15: Recalled F Nicholas Baptiste from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Jack Eichel on IR

UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Tuesday, November 1: Buffalo at Minnesota, 8 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at CANUCKS

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Canucks this season.
• Last meeting: Vancouver defeated Buffalo, 5-2, in Vancouver on Dec. 7
• Next meeting: Sunday, Feb. 12 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 5-5-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Canucks; 1-8-1 on the road.
• This is the 117th game all-time between Buffalo and Vancouver; Buffalo has a 48-49-19 series record.
• The Sabres are 17-30-11 on the road against the Canucks all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-6-2 all-time on October 20.
• October 20, 1976: Gilbert Perreault scores twice and Gerry Desjardins stops all 29 Vancouver shots as the Sabres shut out the Canucks, 4-0.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight’s game is the final in a three-game western swing that began with a 6-2 Buffalo’s win at Edmonton on Sunday and continued with a 4-3 overtime loss at Calgary on Tuesday.
• The home team has won 11 of the last 13 games between these teams. The Sabres have lost their last three games in Vancouver, with the last win taking place on March 3, 2012.
• Kyle Okposo has eight assists in seven career games against the Canucks, including three multiple-assist games.
• Tyler Ennis has points in five of six career games against the Canucks, including each of the last three and each of his three road games in Vancouver.
• Brian Gionta has 12 points in 16 career games against the Cancuks, including at least a point in each of the last three (2+3).
• Anders Nilsson won his only previous meeting with the Canucks, stopping 33 of 34 shots (.971) in an overtime win as a member of the Edmonton Oilers.

THEY’VE GOT THE POWER
The Sabres are 4-for-16 (25.0%) on the power play this season, tying for seventh in the league entering play Wednesday. The team’s 18.9 percent mark last season ranked 12th in the league and was the Sabres’ best power-play percentage in five seasons. Buffalo last finished a season above 20 percent on the power play in 2008-09 (20.7%).

KILLING IT
Buffalo’s penalty kill is 9-for-9 through three games, making the Sabres one of three teams (joining Florida and Minnesota) that remain perfect on the penalty kill entering tonight’s games. The Sabres finished the 2015-16 with a penalty kill percentage of 82.6 percent, ranking ninth in the league and marking the team’s best rate in five seasons.

ROAD WARRIORS

• With a goal against the Flames on Tuesday, Ryan O’Reilly extended his road point streak to eight games, dating back to March 22 at Carolina. In those eight road games, O’Reilly has totaled 13 points (7+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 five road games, including two points in three of the last four. In his last 14 road games, he has totaled 16 points (6+10), including six two-point games.
• Brian Gionta has 10 points (6+4) in his last 10 road games, including at least a point in each of the last three. It is Gionta’s best 10-game road stretch since he recorded 11 points in 10 road games from April 2 to Nov. 10, 2011.
• Johan Larsson has seven points (2+5) in his last seven road games, including at least a point in each of the last five.

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-VAN CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Ryan Miller spent parts of 11 seasons as a member of the Sabres from 2002-2014. Drafted by Buffalo in the fifth round of the 1999 NHL Draft (138th overall), Miller compiled a record of 284-186-56 over a total of 540 games, earning franchise-record totals in games played and wins.
• Though he never played for Buffalo, Alex Biega was drafted by the Sabres in the fifth round (147th overall) of the 2006 NHL Draft. He posted 66 points (13+53) and a plus-24 rating in 198 games for the Portland Pirates and Rochester Americans (AHL) while he was a part of the Sabres’ organization.

Dan Bylsma:

• Coached Brandon Sutter for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2012-2014.

Tyler Ennis:

• Played with Derek Dorsett for the Medicine Hat Tigers (WHL) from 2005-2007.

Marcus Foligno:

• Played with Alex Biega for the Rochester Americans from 2011-2013.
• Represented Canada alongside Erik Gudbranson in the 2011 World Junior Championship.

Derek Grant:

• Played with Markus Granlund for the Calgary Flames in 2015-16.

Zemgus Girgensons:

• Played with Alex Biega for the Rochester Americans during the 2012-13 season.

Dmitry Kulikov:

• Teammates with Erik Gudbranson for the Florida Panthers from 2011-16.
• Played with Jacob Markstrom for the Florida Panthers from 2010-14. Jack Skille was also a member of the team from 2010-2013.

Johan Larsson:

• Represented Sweden alongside Loui Eriksson at the 2012 World Championship.
• Played with Alex Biega for the Rochester Americans from 2012-13.

Anders Nilsson

• Represented Sweden alongside Jacob Markstrom at the 2010 World Junior Championship.

Kyle Okposo:

• Played for the United States alongside Jack Skille at the 2007 World Junior Championship.

Rasmus Ristolainen:

• Represented Finland alongside Markus Granlund at the 2012 World Junior Championship.

Ryan O’Reilly:

• Represented Canada alongside Alexandre Burrows at the 2012 World Championship.
• Played for Team Canada alongside Erik Gudbranson at the 2009 World U18 Championship.
• Represented Canada alongside Ben Hutton and Christopher Tanev at the 2016 World Championship.

Sam Reinhart:

• Reinhart was born in West Vancouver.
• Represented Canada alongside Bo Horvat at the 2014 World Junior Championship.
• Played for Team Canada alongside Jake Virtanen at the 2015 World Junior Championship.
• Represented Canada alongside Ben Hutton and Christopher Tanev at the 2016 World Championship. Sam Reinhart was also a member of the team.

NHL Draft:

• Zach Bogosian, Tyler Ennis and Luca Sbisa were all selected in the first round of the 2008 NHL Draft. Bogosian went third overall to Atlanta, Sbisa was selected by Philadelphia 19th overall and Ennis was chosen 26th overall.
• Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) and Brendan Gaunce (26th overall) were both first-round selections in the 2012 NHL Draft.
• Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall) and Bo Horvat (9th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2013 NHL Draft.
• Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) and Jake Virtanen (6th overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Deslauriers (11), Gorges (6), Foligno/Ristolainen (5)
Blocked Shots: Ristolainen (9), Gorges (5), Bogosian/Foligno/Larsson (4)
Shots: O’Reilly (8), Moulson/Reinhart/Ristolainen (7)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 1-1-1 (3),10/10, 4/16, 9/9

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 102-106 all-time)
Oct. 18 at EDM: L, 4-3 (GWG-Monahan)

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

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Rasmus Ristolainen … 3 games … 200 NHL games
Sam Reinhart … 9 games … 100 NHL games
Goals
Tyler Ennis … 8 goals … 100 NHL goals
Assists
Ryan O’Reilly … 3 assists … 200 NHL assists
Points
Marcus Foligno … 5 points … 100 NHL points

RECENT MILESTONES
Ryan O’Reilly … 500th NHL game … 10/16 at EDM