Game Preview: 11/23/16 vs. DET

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Monday, November 21
Calgary 2 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Okposo, Larsson, Moulson, Foligno
Goalie: Lehner (29 saves/31 shots)
PP: 3/6; PK: 2/2; Shots: Buffalo 32 – Calgary 31

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 98)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clots, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 19 games
Jack Eichel (high-ankle sprain, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 19 games
Nicolas Deslauriers (knee, Oct. 30; injured reserve) – 12 games
Zach Bogosian (MCL sprain, Nov. 3) – 10 games
Tyler Ennis (groin, Nov. 9) – 7 games
Dmitry Kulikov (lower back, Nov. 11) – 6 games
Ryan O’Reilly (oblique, Nov. 12) – 5 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/17: Recalled D Taylor Fedun from Rochester (AHL)
11/18: Assigned F Nicholas Baptiste and F Evan Rodrigues to Rochester (AHL)
11/19: Recalled F Cal O’Reilly and F Cole Schneider from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Nov. 25: Buffalo at Washington, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 29: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 1: NY Rangers at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec 3: Boston at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 5: Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
RED WINGS at SABRES

• This is the first of four meetings between the Sabres and Red Wings this season.
• Last meeting: Detroit defeated Buffalo, 3-2, in Detroit on March 28
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 27 in Detroit
• The Sabres are 2-7-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Red Wings; 2-7-1 at home.
• This is the 130th game all-time between Buffalo and Detroit; Buffalo has a 55-57-17 series record.
• The Sabres are 35-19-9 at home against the Red Wings all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 8-7-1 all-time on November 23.
• November 23, 1978: Larry Playfair makes his NHL debut in a 5-2 loss at Boston.
• November 23, 2011: T.J. Brennan scores in his NHL debut versus Boston, becoming the first Sabres defenseman to score in his first NHL game since Lindy Ruff.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres (7-8-4) and Red Wings (8-10-1) are separated by one point in the standings. It is the first time the teams have met with the Sabres ranked above the Red Wings in the standings since March 13, 2010.
• Buffalo needs a point tonight to avoid going pointless in four straight visits from Detroit for the first time in franchise history. The Sabres’ last home win against the Red Wings was a 3-2 shootout victory on Nov. 2, 2014.
• Rasmus Ristolainen totaled six assists in five games against the Red Wings in 2015-16.
• Zemgus Girgensons had four points (2+2) in four games against Detroit last season.
• Sam Reinhart has a point in each of his last three games against the Red Wings (2+1).

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

• Buffalo’s goaltenders had the third-best combined save percentage (.926) in the league entering play Tuesday, and the fifth-best save percentage during 5-on-5 play (.940). (Stats via Corsica)
• The Sabres last finished a season with a team save percentage above .920 in the 2009-10 season (.922, Ryan Miller/Patrick Lalime/Jhonas Enroth) and have not topped the current mark in a full season since the 1998-99 season (.929, Dominik Hasek/Dwayne Roloson/Martin Biron).
• In his last three games, Anders Nilsson is 2-0-1 with a .976 save percentage and a 0.97 goals-against average. During that stretch, Nilsson has stopped 93 of 95 shots faced at even strength (.979) and 25 of 26 shots while the team was shorthanded (.962).

SABRES IN THE TOP 10

• Buffalo was ranked fourth in the NHL in team faceoff percentage (52.4%) and seventh in power play percentage (22.2%) entering play Tuesday.
• Anders Nilsson entered play Tuesday ranked second among NHL goaltenders in save percentage (.951) and sixth in goals-against average (1.74).
• Ryan O’Reilly ranked second among all NHL forwards with an average ice time of 21:46 per game before Tuesday’s games. O’Reilly finished the 2015-16 season ranked first among forwards with 21:44 of ice time per game and has averaged 20:44 per game since the beginning of the 2014-15 season, leading all NHL forwards during that time frame.
• O’Reilly also ranked third in the NHL among players with at least 100 faceoffs in faceoff percentage (60.5%). entering play Tuesday.
• Matt Moulson entered play Tuesday was tied with Shea Weber for the league lead with six power-play goals. Moulson and Kyle Okposo were also tied for eighth in the NHL with eight power-play points each.
• Rasmus Ristolainen ranked fifth among all NHL skaters in average ice time per game (26:00) before Tuesday’s games and was tied for third among all NHL defensemen with seven power-play points.

BUF-DET CONNECTIONS
Former Red Wings:

• Thomas Vanek was a member of the Sabres for just over eight seasons from 2005-2013. Drafted by Buffalo in the first round (5th overall) of the 2003 NHL Draft, Vanek finished his career with the Sabres ranked 10th in franchise history in points (497), fifth in goals (254), 13th in assists (243), fourth in power-play goals (106) and fourth in game-winning goals (41).
• Steve Ott played for Buffalo for parts of two seasons from 2012-2014. Appearing in a total of 107 games with the club, Ott registered 44 points (18+26).
• Terry Murray played one season for the Red Wings, totaling seven assists and 10 penalty minutes in 23 games during the 1976-77 campaign.

Brian Gionta:

• Played with Thomas Vanek for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2013-14 season.

Josh Gorges:

• Played with Thomas Vanek for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2013-14 season.

Evander Kane:

• Played with Steve Ott for Team Canada at the 2010 World Championship.

Johan Larsson:

• Played with Niklas Kronwall, Henrik Zetterberg and Jonathan Ericsson for Sweden at the 2012 World Championship.

Jake McCabe:

• Played with Justin Adbelkader and Danny DeKeyser for the United States at the 2014 World Championship.

Anders Nilsson:

• Played with Jonathan Ericsson for Team Sweden at the 2010 World Championship.
• Represented Sweden alongside Gustav Nyquist at the 2014 World Championship.
• Teammates with Steve Ott for the St. Louis Blues for part of the 2015-16 season.

Kyle Okposo:

• Represented the United States alongside Justin Abdelkader at the 2007 World Junior Championship.
• Teammates with Jimmy Howard for the United States at the 2012 World Championship.
• Played with Frans Nielsen for the New York Islanders from 2007-2016. Thomas Vanek was also a part of the team during part of the 2013-14 season.

Sam Reinhart:

• Teammates with Anthony Mantha for Team Canada at the 2014 World Junior Championship.

Local Players:

• Riley Sheahan was born in St. Catharines, Ontario.

NHL Draft:

• Derek Grant (119th overall) and Gustav Nyquist (121st overall) were both fourth-round picks in the 2008 NHL Draft.
• Ryan O’Reilly (33rd overall), Robin Lehner (46th overall) and Tomas Tatar (60th overall) were all second-round picks in the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Rasmus Ristolainen (8th overall) and Anthony Mantha (20th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2013 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: Foligno (65), Gorges (46), Ristolainen (42)
Blocked Shots: Gorges (38), Ristolainen (34), McCabe (21)
Shots: Okposo (52), Moulson (48), Gionta/Reinhart (45)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 4-4-2 (10), 23/24, 8/35, 26/31
11-20: 3-4-2 (8), 14/24, 6/28, 26/34

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-2; 102-107 all-time)
Oct. 18 at EDM: L, 4-3 (GWG-Monahan)
Nov. 11 vs. NJD: L, 2-1 (GWG-Greene)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-2; 68-60 all-time)
Oct. 25 at PHI: L, 4-3 (GDG-Giroux)
Nov. 9 vs. OTT: L, 2-1 (GDG-Ryan)
Nov. 19 vs. PIT: W, 2-1 (GDG-C. O’Reilly)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Wins
Dan Bylsma … 6 wins … 300 NHL wins
Points
Marcus Foligno … 1 point … 100 NHL points
Cody Franson … 9 points … 200 NHL points

RECENT MILESTONES
Dan Bylsma … 500th NHL game coached … Nov. 17 vs. TBL
Josh Gorges … 700th NHL game … Nov. 17 vs. TBL
William Carrier … 1st NHL point (goal) … Nov. 19 vs. PIT