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LAST GAME
Saturday, October 14
Buffalo 2 at Los Angeles 4
Goals: Girgensons, Eichel
Goalie: Lehner (26 saves/29 shots); 1 ENG
PP: 0/3; PK: 0/3; Shots: Los Angeles 30 – Buffalo 25
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 16)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Justin Falk (undisclosed, Oct. 5; injured reserve) – 5 games
Evan Rodrigues (hand, Oct. 5; injured reserve) – 5 games
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Oct.5; injured reserve) – 5 games
Kyle Okposo (illness, Oct. 14) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/15: Recalled F Justin Bailey from Rochester (AHL); placed D Zach Bogosian on injured reserve
UPCOMING GAMES
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.
Tuesday, Oct. 24: Detroit at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 25: Buffalo at Columbus, 8 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at DUCKS
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Ducks this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Anaheim 2-1 (SO) in Anaheim on March 17
- Next meeting: Tuesday, Feb. 6 in Buffalo
- The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Ducks; 4-6-0 on the road
- This is the 35th game all-time between Buffalo and Anaheim; Buffalo has a 17-14-3 series record.
- The Sabres are 9-8-0 on the road against the Ducks all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-9-2 all-time on October 15.
- October 15, 1970: The Sabres fall 3-0 to Montreal in the first home game in franchise history.
- October 15, 2013: Thomas Vanek scores his 253rd goal as a Sabre, passing Danny Gare for fifth on the all-time franchise goal list.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- Tonight’s game is Buffalo’s third in a four-game road trip against Pacific Division opponents. The Sabres will visit Vegas for the team’s first-ever meeting with the Golden Knights on Tuesday.
- With a road win the last time these teams met, the Sabres are looking for consecutive road wins against the Ducks for the first time since the team won six straight visits to Anaheim from Jan. 7, 1998 to Oct. 24, 2003.
- A win tonight would give the Sabres consecutive wins against the Ducks for the first time since Buffalo won three in a row from Dec. 21, 2010 to Feb. 29, 2012.
- Kyle Okposo has totaled nine points (5+4) in nine career games against Anaheim.
SHUTTING OUT THE DUCKS
- The Sabres have shut out the Ducks seven times in the 34 all-time games between the clubs (Dominik Hasek-3, Martin Biron-2, Chad Johnson-1, Ryan Miller-1). This amounts to one shutout for every 4.85 meetings, the Sabres’ highest shutout-to-games ratio against any NHL team.
- This ratio is so much higher against the Ducks than the next closest opponent that the Ducks would have to score a goal in each of the next 27 meetings between the teams for the ratio to fall behind the next highest current ratio (Columbus, three shutouts in 26 games – 8.67 games per shutout).
- The Sabres’ last shutout against the Ducks occurred four meetings ago (Dec. 17, 2015 in Buffalo).
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s first of 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began with a 4-2 loss at Los Angeles last night. The Sabres were 8-8-3 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 6-12-1 in the second game last season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back last season was: four points (2), three points (2), two points (8), one point (2) and zero points (5).
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 was 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)
- Kane: 2 SHG (1st), 30 S (3rd)
- O’Reilly: 66.3% FO% (5th)
- Ristolainen: 26:38 TOI (1st)
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-ANA CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Derek Grant played in 40 games for the Sabres during the 2016-17 season and recorded three assists.
Jack Eichel:
- Played with John Gibson for Team North America at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
Josh Gorges:
- Played with Ryan Getzlaf for Team Canada at the 2004 World Junior Championship.
Seth Griffith:
- Played with Reto Berra as members of the Florida Panthers during the 2016-17 season.
Chad Johnson:
- Played with Antoine Vermette for the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2012-13 season.
Jacob Josefson
- Represented Sweden alongside Dennis Rasmussen and Jakob Silfverberg at the 2010 World Junior Championship.
Evander Kane:
- Played with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry on Team Canada at the 2012 World Championship. Kane and Perry were also on the 2010 World Championship squad,
- He and Antoine Vermette were teammates for Team Canada at the 2011 World Championship.
Johan Larsson:
- Played with Jakob Silfverberg for Team Sweden at the 2012 World Championship.
- Teammates with Clayton Stoner for the Minnesota Wild during the 2012-13 season.
Robin Lehner:
- He and Derek Grant were teammates for the Ottawa Senators from 2012-2014 and for the Binghamton Senators (AHL) from 2010-2013. Jakob Silfverberg was also on the team during the 2012-13 season.
Jake McCabe:
- Played with John Gibson for the United States at the 2013 World Junior Championship and the 2014 World Championship.
Matt Moulson:
- Teammates with Jonathan Bernier for the Los Angeles Kings for part of the 2007-08 season.
Kyle Okposo:
- Played with Cam Fowler and John Gibson for Team USA at the 2012 World Championship.
Ryan O’Reilly:
- Played with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry on Team Canada at the 2012 World Championship. They were also teammates for Canada at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey. Perry and O’Reilly also represented Canada at the 2016 World Championship.
- Teammates with Reto Berra for the Colorado Avalanche from 2013-2015.
Sam Reinhart:
- Played with Nick Ritchie for Team Canada at the 2015 World Junior Championship.
- Teammates with Corey Perry for Team Canada at the 2016 World Championship.
NHL Draft:
- Benoit Pouliot (4th overall) and Andrew Cogliano (25th overall) were both first-round picks in the 2005 NHL Draft. They were also both on the 2006 Canadian World Junior team that took home the gold medal.
- Ryan O’Reilly (33rd overall), Robin Lehner (46th overall) and Jakob Silfverberg (39th overall) were second-round picks in the 2009 NHL Draft.
- Nathan Beaulieu (17th overall) and Rickard Rakell (30th overall) were both taken in the first round of the 2011 NHL Draft.
- Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) and Nick Ritchie (10th overall) were both selected in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (16), Kane (14), Pouliot/Scandella (9)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (9), Ristolainen (7), Gorges (7)
Shots: Kane (30), O’Reilly/Ristolainen (13), Eichel (12)
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 0-4-1 (1), 11/22, 2/19, 13/17
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
Kyle Okposo … 2 games … 600 career games played
Jordan Nolan … 5 games … 300 career games played
Assists
Jason Pominville … 2 assists … T-8th in franchise history (Hawerchuk)
Matt Moulson … 7 assists … 200 career assists
Points
Sam Reinhart … 10 points … 100 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
Evander Kane … 500th NHL game … Oct. 12 at SJS
