Game Preview: 1/17/17 at TOR

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Monday, January 16
Dallas 1 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Eichel (2), Ennis, McCabe
Goalie: Lehner (31 saves/32 shots)
PP: 2/3; PK: 1/1; Shots: Dallas 32 – Buffalo 29

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 212)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clots, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 43 games
Dmitry Kulikov (lower back, Dec. 29; injured reserve) – 9 games
Johan Larsson (wrist, Jan. 3; injured reserve) – 7 games
Josh Gorges (hip, Jan. 7) – 5 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/11: F Derek Grant claimed off waivers by Nashville
1/14: Assigned F Justin Bailey and G Linus Ullmark to Rochester (AHL)
1/16: Recalled F Cal O’Reilly from Rochester (AHL); Activated F Tyler Ennis from IR

UPCOMING GAMES
Friday, Jan. 20: Detroit at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 21: Buffalo at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 24: Buffalo at Nashville, 8 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 26: Buffalo at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 31: Buffalo at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES AT MAPLE LEAFS

• This is the second of five meetings between the Sabres and Maple Leafs this season.
• Last meeting: Toronto defeated Buffalo 2-1 in Buffalo on Nov. 3, 2016
• Next meeting: Saturday, Feb. 11 in Toronto
• The Sabres are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Maple Leafs; 2-5-3 on the road.
• This is the 203rd game all-time between Buffalo and Toronto; Buffalo has a 111-65-26 series record.
• The Sabres are 43-39-18 on the road against the Maple Leafs all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 8-8-1 all-time on January 17.
• January 17, 1982: The Sabres get goals from seven different players (Sauve, Ruff, Peterson, McCourt, Ramsey, Seiling, Lambert) in a 7-1 home win against the Hartford Whalers.
• January 17, 2000: Martin Biron stops all 17 Anaheim shots to record his second of three shutouts in an eight-game span as the Sabres top the Mighty Ducks 5-0.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• If he dresses, tonight will be Cody Franson’s 500th NHL game.
• The home team has won 22 of the last 26 games between the Sabres and the Maple Leafs. With a Sabres win tonight, each team will have won in the other’s arena in the same season for the first time since 2012-13.
• Tyler Ennis has 17 points (8+9) in 18 games against the Maple Leafs since the beginning of the 2011-12 season.
• Matt Moulson has 25 points (16+9) in 29 career games against the Maple Leafs.
• Marcus Foligno (1+2) has a point in each of his last three games against Toronto.

WHO’S HOT?

• Sam Reinhart has totaled 13 points (3+10) in his last 13 games.
• Ryan O’Reilly has recorded seven points (1+6) in six games since returning from a four-game absence following an appendectomy.
• Jack Eichel has tallied nine points (5+4) in his last 10 games.

ROAD WARRIORS

• Ryan O’Reilly has 16 points (6+10) in 17 road games this season, including eight points (2+6) in his last eight.
• Kyle Okposo has 16 points (8+8) in 22 road games this season, including four points in his last five (2+2).
• Jack Eichel has eight points (4+4) in 11 road games this season, including six points in his last six (3+3).
• Rasmus Ristolainen has 14 points (1+13) in 22 road games this season, including eight (1+7) in his last 11.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s seventh of a league-high 19 sets of back-to-back games this season after the team’s 4-1 win yesterday afternoon vs. Dallas. The Sabres are 3-2-2 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 2-3-1 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 (2), two points (0), one point (1) and zero points (2).

SOPHOMORE SURGE
In their second full NHL seasons, Jack Eichel and Sam Reinhart have each improved on their points per game totals from 2015-16.

(82-game pace in parentheses)

ASSIST-OLAINEN

• Rasmus Ristolainen finished last night’s game tied for 23rd among all NHL skaters with 24 assists.
• Ristolainen has recorded an assist on 24.2 percent of his teammates’ goals*. Only one Sabres defenseman has ever recorded an assist on more than 20 percent of his teammates’ goals: Phil Housley (22.6%) in 1989-90.
• Ristolainen would need to fail to record an assist on each of his teammates’ next 13 goals to fall behind Housley’s pace.

*Teammate goals are defined as total team goals minus the player’s goals and shootout-winners.

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings after yesterday’s game)

• Buffalo Sabres: 22.3% PP% (7th)
• Eichel: 4.0 S/GP (1st)
• Foligno: 138 hits (T-6th)
• Nilsson: .934 EV SV% (9th), .924 SV% (10th)
• O’Reilly: 21:30 TOI/GP (4th, forwards), 57.0 FO% (8th)
• Ristolainen: 15 PPA (4th), 26:43 TOI (5th), 16 PPP (T-10th), 24 A (T-6th, defensemen), 27 PTS (T-8th, defensemen)

BUF-TOR CONNECTIONS
Former Maple Leafs:

• Cody Franson was acquired by the Maple Leafs on July 3, 2011 when he was traded from the Nashville Predators. Franson spent four seasons with the Maple Leafs, racking up 115 points (20+95) in 236 games.

Jack Eichel:

• Represented team North America alongside Auston Matthews at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. The two also played together for the United States National Development Program in 2013-14.
• Represented the United States alongside Connor Carrick at the 2014 World Junior Championship. The two also played together for the United States National Development Program from 2010-2012.
• Represented the United States alongside Jake Gardiner at the 2015 World Championship.

Evander Kane

• Shares a hometown of Vancouver, British Columbia with Morgan Rielly.

Jake McCabe:

• Played alongside Connor Carrick for the United States National Development Program in 2010-11.
• Represented the United States alongside Jake Gardiner at the 2014 World Championship.

Matt Moulson:

• Played alongside Matt Martin for the New York Islanders from 2009-2013.

Anders Nilsson:

• Played alongside Matt Martin for the New York Islanders from 2011-12 and then again in 2013-14.

Cal O’Reilly:

• Played alongside Frank Corrado for the Utica Comets from 2013-2015.

Ryan O’Reilly:

• Played alongside Matt Hunwick for the Colorado Avalanche from 2010-2014.
• Represented Canada with Morgan Rielly at the 2016 World Championship.

Kyle Okposo

• Played alongside Matt Martin for the New York Islanders from 2009-2016.
• Represented the United States with James van Riemsdyk at the 2007 and 2008 World Junior Championship.

Sam Reinhart:

• Represented Canada with Morgan Rielly at the 2016 World Championship.

Rasmus Ristolainen:

• Represented Finland alongside Leo Komarov at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

NHL Draft

• Zach Bogosian (3rd overall), Jake Gardiner (17th overall) and Tyler Ennis (26th overall) were all first-round selections in the 2008 NHL Draft.
• Evander Kane (4th overall) and Nazem Kadri (7th overall) were both first-round selections in the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) and William Nylander (8th overall) were both first-round selections in the 2014 NHL Draft.
• Jack Eichel (2nd overall) and Mitchell Marner (4th overall) were both first-round selections in the 2015 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Foligno (138), Ristolainen (113), Carrier (84)
Blocked Shots: Ristolainen (93), McCabe (64), Gorges (62)
Shots: Okposo (105), Kane (98), O’Reilly (97)

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: 5-3-2 (12), 31/26, 8/30, 13/24
31-40: 4-4-2 (10), 27/31, 7/34, 21/28
41-50: 1-2-0 (2), 8/10, 2/9, 8/10

OVERTIME RESULTS (2-4; 104-109 all-time)
Oct. 18 at CGY: L, 4-3 (GWG-Monahan)
Nov. 11 vs. NJD: L, 2-1 (GWG-Greene)
Dec. 5 at WSH: L, 3-2 (GWG-Johansson)
Dec. 6 vs. EDM: W, 4-3 (GWG-Ristolainen)
Dec. 16 vs. NYI: W, 3-2 (GWG-Ristolainen)
Jan. 5 at CHI: L, 4-3 (GWG-Kane)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-5; 68-63 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)
Dec. 17 at CAR: L, 2-1 (GDG-Stempniak)
Dec. 20 at FLA: L, 4-3 (GDG-Trocheck)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Cody Franson … 1 game … 500 NHL games
Justin Falk … 2 games … 200 NHL games
Matt Moulson … 2 games … 600 NHL games
Nicolas Deslauriers … 10 games … 200 NHL games
Points
Kyle Okposo … 3 points … 400 NHL points
Cody Franson … 5 points … 200 NHL points
Rasmus Ristolainen … 8 points … 100 NHL points

RECENT MILESTONES
Zach Bogosian … 500th NHL game … Jan. 13 at CAR