GAME-DAY RESOURCES
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LAST GAME
Sunday, February 12
Vancouver 4 at Buffalo 2
Goals: Ennis, Okposo
Goalie: Lehner (27 saves/31 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 5/6; Shots: Vancouver 31 – Buffalo 28
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 274)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Cody McCormick (blood clots, Oct. 13; injured reserve) – 56 games
Johan Larsson (wrist, Jan. 3; injured reserve) – 20 games
William Carrier (knee, Feb.4; injured reserve) – 6 games
Zach Bogosian (ribs, Feb. 4; injured reserve) – 6 games
Zemgus Girgensons (middle body, Feb. 9) – 3 games
Cody Franson (foot, Feb. 11) – 2 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/9: Recalled F Derek Grant and F Evan Rodrigues from Rochester (AHL); Placed F William Carrier and D Zach Bogosian on IR
2/10: Assigned F Evan Rodrigues to Rochester (AHL)
2/11: Recalled F Evan Rodrigues from Rochester (AHL)
2/14: Activated D Zach Bogosian from IR; Placed F Zemgus Girgensons on IR
UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, Feb. 16: Colorado at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 18: St. Louis at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 19: Chicago at Buffalo, 6 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 25: Buffalo at Colorado, 10 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 26: Buffalo at Arizona, 8:30 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at SENATORS
- This is the fifth and final meeting between the Sabres and Senators this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Ottawa 4-0 in Buffalo on Feb. 4
- The Sabres are 5-3-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Senators; 3-6-1 on the road
- This is the 133rd game all-time between Buffalo and Ottawa; Buffalo has a 64-49-19 series record.
- The Sabres are 29-27-11 on the road against the Senators all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 10-4-4 all-time on February 14.
- February 14, 1995: The Sabres acquire Charlie Huddy, Robb Stauber, Alexei Zhitnik and a fifth-round draft choice in 1995 (Marian Menhart) from Los Angeles in exchange for Philippe Boucher, Grant Fuhr and Denis Tsygurov.
- February 14, 2004: J-P Dumont scores the 9,000th goal in franchise history in a 6-4 win at Toronto.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres are 4-1-0 in their last five games against the Atlantic Division.
- The Sabres enter tonight’s game with points in seven straight meetings with the Senators (5-0-2) for the first time since the team went 6-0-1 against Ottawa from Dec. 4, 2010 to Dec. 13, 2011. A point tonight would give them points in eight straight for the first time in the all-time series.
- With a win tonight, the Sabres will have won three straight games against the Senators for the first time since they won six in a row from Dec. 4, 2010 to Nov. 11, 2011.
- A win tonight would also give the Sabres wins in three consecutive visits to Ottawa – and points in five straight – for the first time since they won five straight from April 10, 2010 to Nov. 5, 2011.
- Buffalo and Ottawa have had 16 of their last 22 games decided by a single goal. Seven of those games were decided in overtime or a shootout. The Sabres are 8-6 all-time in shootouts against the Senators. Their 14 shootouts against Ottawa make up the team’s highest total against any opponent.
- Evander Kane has not gone more than a single road game without recording a point since recording an assist on Nov. 29 at Ottawa. During that span, Kane has totaled 17 points (11+6) in 18 road games.
WHO’S HOT?
- Kyle Okposo has points in 10 of his last 14 games, including each of his last six (3+3). With a point tonight, he would have points in seven straight for the first time since he tied his career-best mark of eight games from Dec. 17, 2013 to Jan. 2, 2014.
- Jack Eichel has logged 14 points (5+9) in his last 14 games, including six multi-point outings. The Sabres are 10-0-0 this season (and 19-3-0 in his career) when he has at least two points.
- Evander Kane has 11 points (6+5) in his last 11 games.
- Sam Reinhart has four points (1+3) in his last four games.
HOT AGAINST OTTAWA
- Robin Lehner is 3-0-2 in seven career appearances against his former club with a .961 save percentage and a 1.18 goals-against average. Anders Nilsson is 2-1-0 with a .927 save percentage in three career games against the Senators.
- Ryan O’Reilly has 13 points (5+8) in 13 career games against Ottawa.
- Jack Eichel has totaled nine points (4+5) in six career games against the Senators, including at least a point in each of the six. He has more goals, assists and points against Ottawa than against any other opponent.
- Kyle Okposo has 12 points (4+8) in 14 games against Ottawa since the beginning of the 2012-13 season.
- Sam Reinhart has posted six points (4+2) in his last five games against the Senators.
- Rasmus Ristolainen has five assists in his last five games against Ottawa.
THEY’VE GOT THE POWER
- The Sabres have gone 4-for-11 on the power play in their last four games and entered play Monday ranked first in the league with a 23.4% success rate on the power play.
- Buffalo has not finished a season ranked in the top five in power play percentage since the 2005-06 season (third, 21.2%).
- The team’s current power-play percentage would rank as the sixth-best conversion rate in franchise history and the best since the team’s 23.6% mark in 1984-85. It would be the 33rd-best season by any team since the league began publishing the stat in 1987-88.
THE KANE EVENT
Evander Kane has scored each of his 18 goals this season in his last 33 games, including a team-high 17 even-strength goals. In the period since scoring his first goal of the season on Dec. 3 vs. Boston, he is tied for fourth among all NHL skaters in goals (18), leads the league lead in even-strength goals (17) and ranks third in shots on goal (126).
*All rankings before 2/13 games
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.
|
2015-16 |
2016-17 |
|||
|
Jack Eichel |
Sam Reinhart |
Jack Eichel |
Sam Reinhart |
|
| G/GP |
.30 (25) |
.29 (24) |
.37 (30) |
.21 (18) |
| A/GP |
.40 (33) |
.24 (20) |
.46 (37) |
.41 (34) |
| P/GP |
.69 (57) |
.53 (43) |
.83 (68) |
.63 (51) |
| SOG/GP |
2.9 (238) |
2.1 (172) |
4.0 (328) |
2.3 (185) |
(82-game pace in parentheses)
ASSIST-OLAINEN
Rasmus Ristolainen entered play Monday tied for 31st among all NHL skaters with 28 assists.
- Ristolainen has recorded an assist on 21.1 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 eight goals to fall below 20 percent.
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 2/13 games)
- Buffalo Sabres: 23.4% PP% (1st), 50.5% FO% (10th)
- Eichel: 4.0 S/GP (1st)
- Foligno: 195 hits (3rd)
- Kane: 3.4 S/GP (10th)
- Lehner: .923 SV% (7th), .932EV SV% (10th)
- Moulson: 9 PPG (T-10th)
- Nilsson: .934 EV SV% (6th), .922 SV% (10th)
- Okposo: 19 PPP (T-8th)
- O’Reilly: 21:40 TOI/GP (1st, forwards), 57.8 FO% (6th)
- Ristolainen: 17 PPA (T-3rd), 27:08 TOI (4th), 18 PPP (T-1st, defensemen), 28 A (T-8th, defensemen)
BUF-OTT CONNECTIONS
Former Senators:
- Goaltender Robin Lehner was a second-round selection (46th overall) of the Senators in the 2009 NHL Draft. He appeared in 86 games over the course of his time with Ottawa and compiled a 30-36-13 record with a .914 save percentage and a 2.88 goals-against average.
- Derek Grant was a fourth-round selection (119th overall) of the Ottawa Senators in the 2008 NHL Draft. During his time with the organization he appeared in 25 games and recorded two points (0+2).
Nicolas Deslauriers:
- Played for the Gatineau Olympiques of the QMJHL with Jean-Gabriel Pageau during the 2010-11 season.
Cody Franson:
- Skated alongside Tom Pyatt for Team Canada during the 2007 World Junior Championship.
- Was a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs with Dion Phaneuf from 2011-2015.
Brian Gionta:
- Teammates with Tom Pyatt for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2011.
Josh Gorges:
- Was a member of Team Canada with Dion Phaneuf at the 2004 World Junior Championship.
- Teammates with Tom Pyatt for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2011.
Evander Kane:
- Represented Canada with Marc Methot and Dion Phaneuf during the 2011 and 2012 World Championships.
Dmitry Kulikov:
- Teammates with Mike Hoffman for the Drummondville Voltigeurs (QMJHL) during the 2007-08 season.
Jake McCabe:
- Played with Chris Wideman for the United States at the 2016 World Championship.
Anders Nilsson:
- Represented Sweden alongside Erik Karlsson at the 2010 World Championship.
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Represented Canada alongside Derick Brassard and Cody Ceci at the 2016 World Championship.
- Was a member of Team Canada with Marc Methot at the 2012 World Championship.
- Played for the Colorado Avalanche with Craig Anderson from 2009-2011.
Kyle Okposo:
- Represented the United States alongside Bobby Ryan at the 2012 World Championship.
Sam Reinhart:
- Helped represent Canada at the 2016 World Championship with both Derick Brassard and Cody Ceci.
NHL Draft:
- Kyle Okposo (7th overall) was taken one pick after Derick Brassard (6th overall) in the first round of the 2006 NHL Draft.
- Zach Bogosian (3rd overall), Erik Karlsson (15th overall) and Tyler Ennis (26th overall) were all first-round selections in the 2008 NHL Draft.
- Marcus Foligno (104th overall) was a fourth-round selection in the 2009 NHL Draft along with Chris Wideman (100th overall).
- Zemgus Girgensons and Cody Ceci were back-to-back selections in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft. Girgensons was selected 14th overall while Ceci went 15th overall.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Foligno (195), Ristolainen (144), Carrier (96)
Blocked Shots: Ristolainen (128), McCabe (76), Gorges (72)
Shots: Kane (155), Eichel (140), Okposo (138)
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: 4-5-1 (9), 28/33, 6/27, 21/28
51-60: 3-3-0 (6), 17/16, 4/10, 16/22
OVERTIME RESULTS (6-5; 108-110 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)
Jan. 20 vs. DET: W, 3-2 (GWG-Okposo)
Jan. 21 at MTL: W, 3-2 (GWG-Bogosian)
Jan. 24 at NSH: W, 5-4 (GWG-Eichel)
Feb. 2 vs. NYR: L, 2-1 (GWG-Kreider)
Feb. 7 vs. SJS: W, 5-4 (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
Nicolas Deslauriers … 3 games … 200 NHL games
Tyler Ennis … 7 games … 400 NHL games
Dmitry Kulikov … 10 games … 500 NHL games
Goals
Tyler Ennis … 4 goals … 100 NHL goals
Points
Rasmus Ristolainen … 3 points … 100 NHL points
RECENT MILESTONES
Justin Bailey … 1st NHL assist … Feb. 9 vs. ANA
