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LAST GAME
Wednesday, November 22
Minnesota 5 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Nolan (2), Eichel, Reinhart
Goalie: Johnson (10 saves/13 shots); Lehner (17 saves/19 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 1/3; Shots: Buffalo 34 – Minnesota 32
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 114)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Oct.5; injured reserve) – 22 games
Matt Tennyson (foot, Nov. 7; injured reserve) – 8 games
Taylor Fedun (lower body, Nov. 17; injured reserve) – 4 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/22: Activated F Jacob Josefson from IR
11/24: Activated D Rasmus Ristolainen from IR; Assigned D Casey Nelson to Rochester (AHL)
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Nov. 25: Buffalo at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Nov. 28: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 1: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 2: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 5: Buffalo at Colorado, 9 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
OILERS at SABRES
- This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Oilers this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Edmonton 4-3 (OT) in Buffalo on Dec. 6
- Next meeting: Tuesday, Jan. 23 in Edmonton
- The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Oilers; 4-4-2 at home.
- This is the 74th game all-time between Buffalo and Edmonton; Buffalo has a 24-38-11 series record.
- The Sabres are 14-15-8 at home against the Oilers all-time.
THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 6-9-3 all-time on November 24.
- November 24, 1974: Bill Hajt scores his first NHL goal and the Sabres and Canadiens combine for 154 penalty minutes as the Buffalo defeats Montreal 6-4 at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
- November 24, 1986: Gilbert Perreault announces his retirement from the NHL and Lindy Ruff is selected to serve as the sixth captain in franchise history.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- The Sabres are 9-4-1 with a plus-17 goal differential (48-31) in their last 14 games against Edmonton.
- With a win tonight, the Sabres will have defeated the Oilers in three straight meetings for the first time since Buffalo won each of the six matchups between the teams from Jan. 16, 2006 to Jan. 3, 2012.
STRIKING OIL
- Kyle Okposo has tallied 10 points (6+4) in 10 career games against Edmonton.
- Robin Lehner is 2-1-1 in four career games against the Oilers with a .934 save percentage and a 1.97 goals-against average.
- Ryan O’Reilly has 23 points (9+14) in his last 20 games against the Oilers. He enters tonight’s game on a five-game point streak against the Oilers (5+6) that includes three multi-point games.
- Rasmus Ristolainen has eight points (2+6) in seven career games against the Oilers, including three points in both matchups last season.
- Four other Sabres have a point in each of their last two games against Edmonton: Jake McCabe (0+2), Matt Moulson (1+1), Jason Pominville (0+2) and Benoit Pouliot (0+2)
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s sixth of 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, which continues tomorrow night at Montreal. The Sabres are 1-4-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 2-2-1 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets is: four points (0), three points (0), two points (3), one point (1) and zero points (1).
THE KANE EVENT
- After recording 11 points in 11 games during October for his first point-per-game month since January 2014, Evander Kane has nine points through 10 games in November.
- Kane has scored 12 goals in his first 22 games played this season, tying him for fifth in the league.
- Of his 12 goals, eight have come at even strength and three were shorthanded goals. Kane’s eight even-strength goals tie for 11th in the league.
- Since the beginning of the 2016-17 season, Kane has scored 40 goals in 92 games. Those 40 goals tie for 18th in the league during that span and his 33 even-strength goals tie for seventh.
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings)
- Eichel: 2 SHP (T-3rd)
- Kane: 3 SHG (1st), 3 SHP (T-1st), 99 S (T-3rd), 12 G (T-5th)
- O’Reilly: 326 FOW (1st), 535 FO (2nd), 60.9% FO% (2nd)
- Pouliot: 3 GWG (T-10th)
- Ristolainen: 27:09 TOI/GP (1st
BUF-EDM CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:
- Drafted by the Sabres in the first round (13th overall) of the 2009 NHL Draft, Zack Kassian played in 27 games for the Sabres during the 2011-12 season. He had seven points (3+4) in 27 games.
Former Oilers:
- Benoit Pouliot was an Oiler for three seasons from 2014-2017. He posted 84 points (41+43) in 180 games during his time in Edmonton.
Justin Falk:
- He and Cam Talbot were both members of the New York Rangers during the 2013-14 season.
Josh Gorges:
- Teammates with Michael Cammalleri for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2012.
Chad Johnson:
- Played with Milan Lucic for the Boston Bruins during the 2013-14 season.
- Teammates with Ryan Strome for the New York Islanders during the 2014-15 season.
Jacob Josefson:
- Played with Adam Larsson for the New Jersey Devils from 2011-2016.
- Teammates with Michael Cammalleri for the New Jersey Devils from 2014-2017. Yohann Auvitu was also a member of the club during the 2016-17 season.
Evander Kane:
- He and Milan Lucic were both born in Vancouver, British Columbia. They were also teammates for the Vancouver Giants (WHL) during the 2006-07 season.
Robin Lehner:
- Played with Eric Gryba for the Ottawa Senators from 2012-2015.
Matt Moulson:
- Was a member of the Los Angeles Kings with Michael Cammalleri during the 2007-08 season.
Jordan Nolan:
- Teammates with Milan Lucic for the Los Angeles Kings during the 2015-16 season.
Kyle Okposo:
- Teammates with Ryan Strome for the New York Islanders from 2013-2016.
Benoit Pouliot:
- Teammates with Michael Cammalleri for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2011.
- Played with Milan Lucic for the Boston Bruins during the 2011-12 season.
- He and Cam Talbot were both members of the New York Rangers during the 2013-14 season.
International Teammates:
- 2010 World Championship (Canada): Evander Kane and Kris Russell.
- 2012 World Championship (Canada): Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
- 2012 World Junior Championship (Canada): Nathan Beaulieu and Ryan Strome
- 2014 World Junior Championship (Canada): Sam Reinhart and Connor McDavid.
- 2015 World Championship (Sweden): Jacob Josefson and Oscar Klefbom.
- 2015 World Junior Championship (Canada): Sam Reinhart, Connor McDavid and Darnell Nurse.
- 2016 World Championship (Canada): Ryan O’Reilly, Sam Reinhart, Connor McDavid and Cam Talbot.
- 2016 World Cup (North America): Jack Eichel, Connor McDavid and Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.
NHL Draft:
- Jason Pominville (55th overall) and Michael Cammalleri (49th overall) were both selected in the second round of the 2001 NHL Draft.
- Evander Kane (4th overall by Atlanta), Jacob Josefson (20th overall) and Zack Kassian (13th overall by Buffalo) were all selected in the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
- The first round of the 2011 NHL Draft saw Nathan Beaulieu (17th overall), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (1st overall), Adam Larsson (4th overall), Ryan Strome (5th overall) and Oscar Klefbom (19th overall) all go off the board.
- Sam Reinhart (2nd overall) was taken one pick before Leon Draisaitl (3rd overall) in the first round of the 2014 NHL Draft.
- Jack Eichel (2nd overall) and Connor McDavid (1st overall) were the top two picks in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Kane (46), Falk (40), Ristolainen (38)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (31), Scandella (31), Falk (23)
Shots: Kane (99), Eichel (69), O’Reilly (57)
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: 2-6-2 (6), 20/35, 5/28, 23/27
21-30: 0-2-0 (0), 6/8, 0/6, 2/4
OVERTIME RESULTS (1-3; 109-114 all-time)
Oct. 17 at VGK: L, 5-4 (GWG-Perron)
Oct. 21 at BOS: W, 5-4 (GWG-O’Reilly)
Nov. 11 at MTL: L, 2-1 (GWG-Pacioretty)
Nov. 14 at PIT: L, 5-4 (GWG-Sheary)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-1; 69-65 all-time)
Oct. 5 vs. MTL: L, 3-2 (GDG-Drouin)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Wins
Buffalo Sabres … 5 home wins … 1,000 regular-season home wins
Games Played
Zemgus Girgensons … 4 games … 300 career games played
Marco Scandella … 5 games … 400 career games played
Ryan O’Reilly … 8 games … 600 career games played
Assists
Matt Moulson … 7 assists … 200 career assists
Rasmus Ristolainen … 8 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Marco Scandella … 5 points … 100 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
Johan Larsson … 200th NHL game … Nov. 22 vs. MIN
Sam Reinhart … 100th NHL point … Nov. 22 vs. MIN
