GAME-DAY RESOURCES
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LAST GAME
Monday, October 9
New Jersey 6 at Buffalo 2
Goals: Kane (2)
Goalie: Johnson (16 saves/22 shots)/Lehner (9 saves/9 shots)
PP: 1/4; PK: 4/4; Shots: New Jersey 31 – Buffalo 25
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 9)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Justin Falk (undisclosed, Oct. 5; injured reserve) – 3 games
Evan Rodrigues (hand, Oct. 5; injured reserve) – 3 games
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Oct.5) – 3 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Oct. 14: Buffalo at Los Angeles, 10:30 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 15: Buffalo at Anaheim, 9 p.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 17: Buffalo at Vegas, 10 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 20: Vancouver at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 21: Buffalo at Boston, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at SHARKS
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Sharks this season.
- Last meeting: San Jose defeated Buffalo 4-1 in San Jose on March 14
- Next meeting: Saturday, Oct. 28 in Buffalo
- The Sabres are 8-1-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Sharks; 6-3-1 on the road
- This is the 38th game all-time between Buffalo and San Jose; Buffalo has a 24-7-6 series record.
- The Sabres are 7-6-5 on the road against the Sharks all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-8-3 all-time on October 12.
- October 12, 1971: Rick Martin scores his first NHL goal in a 4-1 loss at St. Louis.
- October 12, 1989: Mike Foligno appears in his 500th Sabres game. Foligno would finish his Sabres career with 664 games played, tying Ric Seiling for 10th-most in franchise history.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- If he dresses, tonight will be Evander Kane’s 500th NHL game.
- Kyle Okposo has 13 points (5+8) in 10 career games against San Jose.
- Seth Griffith scored his first career goal in his only previous meeting with the Sharks as a member of the Boston Bruins on Oct. 21, 2014.
- Chad Johnson is 3-1-1 against the Sharks in his career with a .925 save percentage and a 2.18 goals-against average.
TWO-GOAL TRIO
- The Sabres have had a multi-goal scorer in each of their first three games of the season, marking the first time the team has had a player score at least two goals in three straight games since Nov. 28 to Dec. 4, 2015.
- With a multi-goal game tonight, the team will have a multi-goal scorer in four straight games for the first time since March 12 to 19, 2013.
- Evander Kane has scored two goals in each of the Sabres’ last two games. With a multi-goal game tonight, he would become the first player to log three consecutive multi-goal games for the Sabres since Ales Kotalik did so from Jan. 4 to 10, 2003.
A NEW LOOK
Buffalo had a franchise-record 10 players in the opening night lineup who weren’t on the team’s roster in 2016-17. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it’s the most new players an NHL team has had in its opening night lineup since the 2011-12 Florida Panthers (11).
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
The 23 players on the Sabres’ opening-day roster had combined to play 7,866 NHL games before last Thursday’s opener vs. Montreal, 1,044 more than last year’s 23-man opening-day roster had between them. The average Sabres skater entering the 2017-18 season had played 45 more NHL games than his counterpart from last season.
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Sabres’ Opening-Day NHL Experience |
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| Season | Total NHL GP | Average GP/Player |
| 2017-18 | 7,866 | 342 |
| 2016-17 | 6,822 | 297 |
| 2015-16 | 5,914 | 257 |
| 2014-15 | 5,858 | 255 |
| 2013-14 | 5,516 | 240 |
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 10/11 games)
- Buffalo Sabres: 2 SHG (T-1st), 100.0% PK (T-1st)
- Kane: 2 SHG (1st), 26 S (1st), 4 G, (T-5th), 6 PTS (T-6th)
2017-18 ROSTER NOTES
Of the 23 players on Buffalo’s opening night roster:
- Six were originally drafted by the Sabres — four were first-round Buffalo selections (Girgensons, 2012; Ristolainen, 2013; Reinhart, 2014; Eichel, 2015) and two were second-round picks (Pominville, 2001; McCabe, 2012).
- Nine were acquired in trades: Beaulieu, Bogosian, Gorges, Kane, Larsson, Lehner, O’Reilly, Pominville, Scandella
- Eight were signed as free agents: Antipin, Griffith, Johnson, Josefson, Moulson, Okposo, Pouliot, Tennyson
- One was claimed off waivers: Nolan
- 13 played in Buffalo at some point last season: Bogosian, Eichel, Girgensons, Gorges, Kane, Larsson, Lehner, McCabe, Moulson, Okposo, O’Reilly, Reinhart, Ristolainen
- 10 are new to the Sabres this season: Antipin, Beaulieu, Griffith, Johnson, Josefson, Nolan, Pominville, Pouliot, Scandella, Tennyson
BUF-SJS CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Dave Barr spent the 2015-16 season as an assistant coach for the Sabres.
Former Sharks:
- Josh Gorges played for the Sharks from 2005-2007, tallying 10 points (1+9) in 96 games played.
- Matt Tennyson was a member of the Sharks’ organization from 2011-2016. He registered 14 points (3+11) in 60 games for San Jose and 38 points (12+26) in 109 games for the Sharks’ AHL affiliate.
Jack Eichel:
- Played for the USNTDP’s USHL squad alongside Kevin Lebanc during the 2012-13 season.
Josh Gorges:
- Played with Brent Burns for Team Canada at the 2004 World Junior Championship.
Seth Griffith:
- He and Chris Tierney were teammates from 2010-2013 for the London Knights (OHL).
Chad Johnson:
- Played with Brent Burns for Team Canada at the 2010 World Championship.
- Teammates with Mikkel Boedker for the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2012-13 season.
Evander Kane:
- He and Martin Jones were both born in Vancouver, British Columbia.
- Played with Brent Burns for Team Canada at the 2010 and 2011 World Championships. Marc-Edouard Vlasic was also on the 2012 squad.
Matt Moulson:
- He and Joel Ward were both born in North York, Ontario.
- Teammates with Michael Haley for the New York Islanders from 2009-2012.
Jordan Nolan
- Played with Martin Jones for the Los Angeles Kings from 2013-2015.
Kyle Okposo:
- Teammates with Michael Haley for the New York Islanders from 2009-2012.
- He and Joe Pavelski represented the United States at the 2009 World Championship.
- Played with Justin Braun for the United States at the 2012 World Championship
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Represented Canada alongside Marc-Edouard Vlasic at the 2012 World Championship.
- He and Brenden Dillon played together for Team Canada at the 2013 World Championship.
- Played with Brent Burns and Martin Jones for Team Canada at the 2015 World Championship.
- Teammates with Brent Burns, Logan Couture and Joe Thornton for Canada at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Benoit Pouliot:
- Teammates with Brent Burns for the Minnesota Wild from 2006-2010. Joel Ward was also on the team during the 2006-07 season.
Sam Reinhart:
- He and Martin Jones were both born in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Rasmus Ristolainen:
- Played with Joonas Donskoi for Team Finland at the 2012 World Junior Championship and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Marco Scandella:
- Played with Martin Jones on the 2010 Canadian World Junior Championship team that won the silver medal.
- Teammates with Brent Burns on the Minnesota Wild for one season in 2010-11
Matt Tennyson:
- Justin Braun and Tennyson are both from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
NHL Draft:
- Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) and Tomas Hertl (17th overall) were both first-round selections in the 2012 NHL Draft.
- Jake McCabe (44th overall) and Chris Tierney were both selected in the second round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
- Jack Eichel (2nd overall) and Timo Meier (9th overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Kane (8), Pouliot (8), Ristolainen (8), Scandella (8)
Blocked Shots: Ristolainen (6), Antipin (4), Josefson (4)
Shots: Kane (26), Girgensons (9), Beaulieu (8)
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 0-2-1 (1), 7/15, 2/13, 11/11
OVERTIME RESULTS (0-0; 108-11 all-time)
N/A
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-1; 69-65 all-time)
Oct. 5 vs. MTL: L, 3-2 (GDG-Drouin)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Evander Kane … 1 game … 500 career games played
Kyle Okposo … 3 games … 600 career games played
Jordan Nolan … 7 games … 300 career games played
Assists
Jason Pominville … 3 assists … T-8th in franchise history (Hawerchuk)
Matt Moulson … 7 assists … 200 career assists
Points
Sam Reinhart … 10 points … 100 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
N/A
