Game Preview: 11/4/17 at DAL

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

Game Notes NHL Stats Press Clips

LAST GAME
Thursday, November 2
Buffalo 5 at Arizona 4
Goals: Pouliot (2), Okposo, Griffith, Kane
Goalie: Lehner (25 saves/29 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 2/2; Shots: Buffalo 31 – Arizona 29

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 62)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Evan Rodrigues (hand, Oct. 5; injured reserve) – 13 games
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Oct.5; injured reserve) – 13 games
Jacob Josefson (lower body, Oct. 17; injured reserve) – 7 games
Josh Gorges (lower body, Oct. 20; injured reserve) – 6 games
Nathan Beaulieu (upper body, Oct. 21; injured reserve) – 5 games
Justin Bailey (lower body, Nov. 2) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
10/30: Assigned D Zach Redmond to Rochester (AHL)
10/31: Recalled D Taylor Fedun from Rochester (AHL)
11/1: Recalled F Nicholas Baptiste from Rochester (AHL); Activated D Justin Falk from IR; Placed D Nathan Beaulieu on IR

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Nov. 7: Washington at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 10: Florida at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 11: Buffalo at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 14: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 17: Buffalo at Detroit, 7:30 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at STARS

  • This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Stars this season.
  • Next meeting: Saturday, Jan. 20 in Buffalo
  • The Sabres are 3-7-0 in their last 10 games vs. the Stars; 2-8-0 on the road.
  • This is the 121st game all-time between Buffalo and Dallas; Buffalo has a 56-47-17 series record.
  • The Sabres are 23-32-6 on the road against the Stars all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

  • The Sabres are 5-7-4 all-time on November 4.
  • November 4, 1999: Curtis Brown records three points (1+2), including an overtime goal, as the Sabres top the Blackhawks 5-4 at United Center.
  • November 4, 2009: Derek Roy goes 14-for-14 on faceoffs and tallies the game-winning goal in a 3-0 win at home against the Islanders.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

  • Tonight’s game is Buffalo’s first of the season against a Central Division opponent. The Sabres went 7-5-2 against the Central Division last season, including a 3-3-1 record in road games.
  • The Sabres are looking to end a five-game road losing streak against the Stars, seeking their first win in Dallas since a 5-4 shootout win on Jan. 15, 2009.
    • The only player on tonight’s rosters who played in that game was Jason Pominville, who recorded two assists and the game-deciding shootout goal.

SHINING AGAINST THE STARS

  • Matt Moulson has 15 points (9+6) in 15 career games against the Stars.
  • Kyle Okposo has 10 points (6+4) in 10 career games against Dallas.
  • Benoit Pouliot has six points (2+4) in his last six games against the Stars.

WHO’S HOT?

  • Jack Eichel (4+9) and Evander Kane (7+6) both have 13 points in 13 games this season, including a point each in both of the last two games.
  • Ryan O’Reilly has 10 points (4+6) in his last eight games and had three assists on Thursday at Arizona.
  • Benoit Pouliot has five points (4+1) in his last five games, including a three-point performance (2+1) at Arizona on Thursday. It was his two-goal game since Oct. 26, 2016 vs. Washington and his first three-point game since he tallied four (0+4) on Feb. 11, 2016. The Sabres are 4-0-0 when Pouliot records a point so far this season.
  • Robin Lehner is 3-1-0 in his last four games and seeking four wins in five games for the first time since Feb. 11 to 18.

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 11/3 games)

  • Kane: 3 SHG (1st), 66 S (1st)
  • O’Reilly: 198 FOW (1st), 324 FO (2nd), 61.1% FO% (4th), 3 PPG (T-7th)
  • Ristolainen: 27:09 TOI/GP (1st)

BUF-DAL CONNECTIONS
Justin Bailey:

  • Played with Radek Faksa for the Kitchener Rangers (OHL) from 2012-2014.

Chad Johnson:

  • Teammates with Martin Hanzal for the Phoenix Coyotes during the 2012-13 season.

Evander Kane:

  • Won a gold medal with Jamie Benn for Team Canada at the 2009 World Junior Championship. They were also teammates for Canada at the 2012 World Championship.
  • Teammates with Jason Spezza for Team Canada at the 2011 World Championship.
  • Represented Canada with Marc Methot during the 2011 and 2012 World Championships.

Johan Larsson:

  • Represented Sweden alongside John Klingberg at the 2011 World Junior Championship.

Robin Lehner:    

  • Played with Jason Spezza for the Ottawa Senators from 2010-2014. Marc Methot was also on the team from 2012-2015, as was Ben Bishop from 2011-2013.
  • Represented Sweden alongside John Klingberg at the 2011 World Junior Championship.

Kyle Okposo:

  • Represented the United States alongside Ben Bishop at the 2010 World Championship.

Ryan O’Reilly:

  • Teammates with Jamie Benn and Marc Methot for Canada at the 2012 World Championship.
  • Represented Team Canada at the 2013 World Championship with Dan Hamhuis.
  • Teammates with Dan Hamhuis, Tyler Seguin and Jason Spezza for Team Canada at the 2015 World Championship.

Jason Pominville:

  • Played with Martin Hanzal for the Minnesota Wild during part of the 2016-17 season.

Benoit Pouliot:

  • Teammates with Tyler Seguin for the Boston Bruins during the 2011-12 season.

Rasmus Ristolainen:

  • Teammates with Esa Lindell for Team Finland at the 2012 World U18 Championship and the 2016 World Championship.

Marco Scandella:

  • Played with Martin Hanzal for the Minnesota Wild during part of the 2016-17 season.

NHL Draft:

  • The first round of the 2005 NHL Draft saw both Benoit Pouliot (4th overall) and Martin Hanzal (17th overall) go off the board.
  • Johan Larsson (56th overall), Tyler Pitlick (31st overall) and Stephen Johns (60th overall) were all taken in the second round of the 2010 NHL Draft.
  • Zemgus Girgensons (14th overall) was selected one pick after Radek Faksa (13th overall) in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
  • Jake McCabe (44th overall) and Devin Shore (61st overall) were both selected in the second round of the 2012 NHL Draft.
  • Justin Bailey (52nd overall) and Remi Elie (40th overall) were both taken in the second round of the 2013 NHL Draft.
  • Nicholas Baptiste (69th overall) and Mattias Janmark (79th overall) were both third-round picks in the 2013 NHL Draft.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (38), Kane (27), Pouliot (26)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (23), Scandella (19), Ristolainen (15)
Shots: Kane (66), Eichel (35), O’Reilly (34)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 3-5-2 (8), 26/36, 5/36, 29/35
11-20: 1-2-0 (2), 8/12, 1/8, 6/7

OVERTIME RESULTS (1-1; 109-112 all-time)
Oct. 17 at VGK: L, 5-4 (GWG-Perron)
Oct. 21 at BOS: W, 5-4 (GWG-O’Reilly)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-1; 69-65 all-time)
Oct. 5 vs. MTL: L, 3-2 (GDG-Drouin)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Johan Larsson … 9 games … 200 career games played
Assists
Matt Moulson … 7 assists … 200 career assists
Rasmus Ristolainen … 10 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Sam Reinhart … 5 points … 100 career points
Marco Scandella … 8 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A

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