Game Preview: 12/5/16 at WSH

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, December 3
Boston 2 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Kane
Goalie: Lehner (31 saves/33 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 0/3; Shots: Buffalo 36 – Boston 33

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 127)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clots, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 24 games
Nicolas Deslauriers (knee, Oct. 30; injured reserve) – 17 games
Zach Bogosian (MCL sprain, Nov. 3) – 15 games
Tyler Ennis (groin, Nov. 9; injured reserve) – 12 games
Dmitry Kulikov (lower back, Nov. 11; injured reserve) – 11 games
Josh Gorges (foot, Dec. 3) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/29: Activated F Jack Eichel from IR
12/1: Recalled G Linus Ullmark from Rochester (AHL)
12/2: Recalled D Brendan Guhle from Prince George (WHL) on an emergency basis; Assigned G Linus Ullmark to Rochester (AHL)
12/5: Recalled D Erik Burgdoerfer from Rochester (AHL); Placed D Dmitry Kulikov on IR

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Dec. 6: Edmonton at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 9: Washington at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 13: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 16: NY Islanders at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 17: Buffalo at Carolina, 7 p.m.

TODAY’S GAME
SABRES AT CAPITALS

• This is the second of three meetings between the Sabres and Capitals this season.
• Last meeting: Washington defeated Buffalo 3-1 in Washington on Nov. 25
• Next meeting: Friday, Dec. 9 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Capitals; 3-6-1 at home.
• This is the 154th game all-time between Buffalo and Washington; Buffalo has an 87-47-19 series record.
• The Sabres are 41-26-10 on the road against the Capitals all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 9-6-2 all-time on December 5.
• December 5, 1971: Craig Ramsay records the first natural hat trick in Sabres history, leading the team to a 3-1 win at home against the Minnesota North Stars.
• December 5, 1997: Dominik Hasek makes 38 saves in a 4-0 win against the Tampa Bay Lightning to record his third of a career-high 13 shutouts during the 1997-98 season.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres enter today’s game with a 4-2-1 record in their last seven games.
• Buffalo was ranked seventh in the NHL in power play percentage (22.5%) and fifth in team faceoff percentage (51.7%) entering play Sunday.
• Brendan Guhle made his NHL debut on Saturday vs. Boston, logging 16:20 of ice time and a plus-1 rating. He led all Sabres with seven shot attempts and tied for the team lead with four shots on goal.
• Kyle Okposo has four points (1+3) in his last three games against the Capitals and 11 points (5+6) in 13 career visits to Washington
• Cody Franson and Sam Reinhart both have a point (1+1) in each of their last two games against Washington.
• Evander Kane has six career two-point games against the Capitals.
• Jack Eichel recorded two assists in his only trip to Washington last season.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s third of a league-high 19 sets of back-to-back games this season, which continues tomorrow vs. Edmonton. The Sabres are 1-0-1 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 1-1-0 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets this season is: four points (1), three points (0), two points (0), one point (1) and zero points (0).

WHO’S HOT?

• Sam Reinhart has seven points (2+6) in his last six games and enters tonight’s game with points in four straight games, tying his best career stretch.
• Kyle Okposo has six points (2+5) in his last six games.
• Jack Eichel has 10 points (4+6) in his last eight games dating back to last season, including four points (3+1) in three games in 2016-17.
• Evander Kane enters tonight’s game on a three-game point streak (1+2) and is seeking his first four-game streak since he tallied points in eight straight from Feb. 12 to 26.
• Rasmus Ristolainen has three assists in his last three games.

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before Dec. 4 games)

• Foligno: 79 hits (T-6th)
• Moulson: 6 PPG (T-3rd)
• Nilsson: .934 SV% (5th), .956 EV SV% (2nd)
• Okposo: 11 PPP (T-4th)
• O’Reilly: 21:49 TOI (2nd, forwards), 57.7 FO% (7th)
• Ristolainen: 10 PPA (1st), 26:25 TOI (5th), 10 PPP (T-6th)

RETURN OF THE JACK

• Jack Eichel returned to the Sabres‘ lineup on Tuesday at Ottawa after missing the team’s first 21 games with a high-ankle sprain. In his first three games of the season, Eichel has recorded four points (3+1).
• With wins on Tuesday and Thursday, the Sabres improved to 26-14-4 (.636) in Eichel’s career when he records a point and 10-3-1 (.750) when he has at least two.

LAST LINE OF DEFENSE

• Buffalo’s goaltenders had the fourth-best combined save percentage* (.926) in the league entering play Sunday. They also had the fifth-best save percentage during 5-on-5 play (.935).
• The Sabres last finished a season with a combined save percentage* above .920 in the 2009-10 season (.924, Ryan Miller/Patrick Lalime/Jhonas Enroth) and have topped the team’s current mark only two times in franchise history: 1998-99 (.930, Dominik Hasek/Dwayne Roloson/Martin Biron) and 1997-98 (.928, Hasek/Steve Shields).

*Combined save percentage excludes empty net goals

BUF-WSH CONNECTIONS
Former Capitals:

• Terry Murray played for Washington during the 1981-82 campaign, his final season in the NHL. He went on to serve as a Capitals assistant coach from 1983 to 1988 before being named Washington’s head coach. Murray posted a 163-134-28 record as bench boss in Washington from 1989 to 1994.

Local Players:

• Brooks Orpik grew up in Amherst, New York.

Dan Bylsma:

• Coached Matt Niskanen for the Pittsburgh Penguins from 2010-2014 and Brooks Orpik from 2009-2014.

Marcus Foligno:

• Played with Brett Connolly for Team Canada at the 2011 World Junior Championship held in Buffalo.

Cody Franson:

• Teammates with Karl Alzner for Team Canada at the 2007 World Junior Championship.

Brian Gionta:

• Played with Brooks Orpik at Boston College from 1998-2001. The Golden Eagles won the NCAA National Championship in 2001.
• Teammates with Lars Eller for the Washington Capitals from 2010-2014.

Dmitry Kulikov:

• Played with Dmitry Orlov for Russia at the 2008 World U-18 Championship.
• Teammates with Alex Ovechkin for Russia at the 2010, 2011 and 2015 World Championships.

Johan Larsson:

• Played with Nicklas Backstrom for Team Sweden at the 2012 World Championship.

Anders Nilsson:

• Represented Sweden alongside Marcus Johansson at the 2010 World Junior Championship.

Kyle Okposo:

• Represented the United States alongside Taylor Chorney at the 2007 World Junior Championship and the 2010 World Championship.
• Played with T.J. Oshie for the United States at the 2009 and 2010 World Championships. Matt Niskanen was also a part of the team in 2009.

Ryan O’Reilly:

• Teammates with Brett Connolly for Canada at the 2009 World U18 Championship.
• Played with Paul Carey for the Colorado Avalanche from 2013-2015.
• Teammates with Daniel Winnik for the Colorado Avalanche from 2010-2012.

NHL Draft:

• Evander Kane (4th overall) and Marcus Johansson (24th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Ryan O’Reilly (33rd overall), Robin Lehner (46th overall) and Dimitry Orlov (55th overall) were second-round picks in the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) and Tom Wilson (16th overall) were both chosen in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
• Rasmus Ristolainen, (8th overall) and Andre Burakovsky (23rd overall) were both selected in the first round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
• Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) and Jakub Vrana (13th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2014 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Foligno (79), Ristolainen (56), Gorges (53)
Blocked Shots: Ristolainen (44), Gorges (43), McCabe (31)
Shots: Okposo (66), O’Reilly (62), Reinhart (59)

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: 3-4-3 (9), 15/26, 6/31, 28/36
21-30: 2-2-0 (4), 11/12, 4/14, 7/12

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 (1-3; 68-61 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)
Nov. 23 vs. DET: L, 2-1 (GDG-Vanek)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Wins
Dan Bylsma … 4 wins … 300 NHL wins
Games Played
Marcus Foligno … 9 games … 300 NHL games
Points
Cody Franson … 7 points … 200 NHL points

RECENT MILESTONES
Marcus Foligno … 100th NHL point … Dec. 1 vs. NYR
Brendan Guhle … 1st NHL game … Dec. 3 vs. BOS