Game Preview: 2/10/18 at Boston

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Thursday, February 8
NY Islanders 3 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Eichel, Rodrigues, O’Reilly, Reinhart
Goalie: Lehner (26 saves/29 shots)
PP: 1/2; PK: 2/3; Shots: NY Islanders 29 – Buffalo 22

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 190)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Jan. 11; injured reserve) – 11 games
Jake McCabe (thumb, Feb. 8) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A

UPCOMING GAMES
Sunday, Feb. 11: Colorado at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 13: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 15: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 17: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 19: Washington at Buffalo, 3 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at BRUINS

• This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Bruins this season.
• Last meeting: Boston defeated Buffalo 3-0 in Buffalo on Dec. 19, 2017
• Next meeting: Sunday, Feb. 25 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Bruins; 4-4-2 on the road.
• This is the 288th game all-time between Buffalo and Boston; Buffalo has a 122-121-44 series record.
• The Sabres are 49-72-21 on the road against the Bruins all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-9-2 all-time on February 10.
• February 10, 1980: George “Punch” Imlach, Roger Crozier and Frank Christie become the first three members of the Buffalo Sabres Hall of Fame.
• February 10, 1993: Pat LaFontaine posts the last six-point game by a Sabres player, tallying one goal and five assists in a 6-2 Sabres win at Winnipeg.
• February 10, 2008: Patrick Kaleta scores his first NHL goal in a 5-3 win at home against Florida.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• If he dresses, tonight will be Jacob Josefson’s 300th NHL game.
• Sabres goaltenders Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson have combined to stop 203 of the 213 shots (.953) they have faced at even strength in Buffalo’s last eight games.
• Robin Lehner has faced Boston five more times than his next most frequent opponent (Montreal – 14). In 19 career games against the Bruins, he has logged a .922 save percentage and a 2.71 goals-against average.
• Jack Eichel has totaled seven points (3+4) in nine career games against Boston.
• Kyle Okposo has 24 points (6+18) in 29 career games against the Bruins, including 15 points (5+10) in the last 14 matchups.
• Ryan O’Reilly has eight points (4+4) in his last nine games against Boston.

PLAYING WITH POWER

• The Sabres have tallied at least one power-play goal in 10 of their last 13 games dating back to Jan. 7 at Philadelphia (and went 0-for-0 on Jan. 11 vs. Columbus), converting at a 33.3 percent clip during that span.
• Buffalo’s power-play percentage during this stretch led the league entering play Friday, and the team’s 13 power-play goals tied for the league lead.
• During that stretch, the Sabres’ top power-play unit (Eichel, Okposo, O’Reilly, Reinhart, Ristolainen) has combined for 12 goals and each member of the unit has at least six power-play points.
• Ryan O’Reilly entered play Friday leading the league with five power-play goals since Jan. 7. Jack Eichel’s nine power-play points (2+7) during that stretch tied for second.
• O’Reilly has taken 72.8 percent of the team’s power-play faceoffs during that span, going 43-for-59 (72.9%).
• O’Reilly’s nine power-play goals this season tied for fifth in the league entering play Friday.

WHO’S HOT?

• Robin Lehner has stopped 175 of 185 shots (.946) in his last six games.
• Rasmus Ristolainen has 14 points (3+11) in his last 17 games, dating back to Dec. 29. Ristolainen’s 14 points during that span ranked fifth among NHL defensemen entering play Friday.
• Kyle Okposo has recorded 13 points (3+10) in his last 12 games, including four multi-point games.
• Ryan O’Reilly has recorded 12 points (7+5) in his last 13 games.
• Sam Reinhart has totaled 13 points (4+9) in his last 10 games.
• Jack Eichel enters tonight’s game with consecutive multi-point games (2+2).
• Casey Nelson has an assist in each of the Sabres’ last two games.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s 12th of 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, which continues tomorrow night vs. Colorado. The Sabres are 4-7-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 3-6-2 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in previous back-to-back sets is: four points (1), three points (0), two points (5), one point (2) and zero points (3).

JACK ATTACK

• Jack Eichel has totaled 34 points (15+19) in 29 games since the beginning of December.
• During that stretch, Eichel ranked in the top 10 in the league in goals (T-6th, 15), points (T-4th, 34), even-strength goals (T-4th, 12), even-strength points (T-8th, 22), power-play points (T-9th, 12) and shots (3rd, 118) entering play Friday.
• Eichel scored at least two goals in four of those 29 games and entered play Friday tied for 11th in the league with four multi-goal games this season, just two off the league lead.

I LIKE EICH

• Jack Eichel is currently on pace to shatter his personal bests in goals (24), assists (33) and points (57) on the strength of improved production at even strength (T-9th in NHL in ES goals, T-18th in ES points entering play Friday).
• Eichel’s 16 multi-point games this season through 54 games have already tied his career best set in 2016-17.
• With his 17th even-strength goal in his 44th game of the season on Jan. 11 vs. Columbus, Eichel surpassed his career-best total from 2015-16 (81 games). Through 54 games, Eichel now has 19 even-strength goals.
• With his 36th even-strength point in his 53rd game of the season on Feb. 7 vs. Anaheim, Eichel surpassed his career-best total from 2015-16 (81 games). Through 54 games, he now has 38 even-strength points.

SETTING THEM UP AND KNOCKING THEM DOWN

• Of Jack Eichel’s 53 points so far this season, 24 have been goals or primary assists recorded during 5-on-5 play (excludes 6-on-5 situations).
• Through 54 games, Eichel’s 24 primary points (13+11) during 5-on-5 play have already surpassed his 61-game total from last season (11+10) and tied his career-best total from his 81-game rookie season (12+12).

*All primary point stats via NaturalStatTrick.com

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings entering play Friday)

• Eichel: 199 S (T-5th), 38 EVP (T-8th), 19 EVG (T-9th)
• Girgensons: 2 SHG (T-5th)
• Kane: 3 SHG (T-2nd), 3 SHP (T-5th), 199 S (T-5th)
• O’Reilly: 786 FOW (1st), 61.6% FO% (1st), 1,277 FO (2nd), 9 PPG (T-5th)
• Ristolainen: 26:29 TOI/GP (3rd)

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (130), McCabe (110), Kane (105)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (79), Scandella (78), Ristolainen (65)
Shots: Eichel (199), Kane (199), O’Reilly (141)

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: 2-6-2 (6), 18/31, 2/32, 24/32
31-40: 3-4-3 (9), 24/33, 3/25, 23/28
41-50: 4-6-0 (8), 27/31, 10/33, 15/26
51-60: 1-2-1 (3), 9/12, 3/8, 13/17

OVERTIME RESULTS (3-9; 111-120 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)
Dec. 8 at CHI: L, 3-2 (GWG-Forsling)
Dec. 10 at STL: L, 3-2 (GWG-Tarasenko)
Dec. 15 vs. CAR: L, 5-4 (GWG-Slavin)
Dec. 27 at NYI: L, 3-2 (GWG-Barzal)
Dec. 29 at NJD: W, 4-3 (GWG-Ristolainen)
Jan. 1 vs. NYR: L, 3-2 (GWG-Miller)
Jan. 22 at CGY: W, 2-1 (GWG-Eichel)
Feb. 6 vs. ANA: L, 4-3 (GWG-Henrique)

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

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Jacob Josefson … 1 game … 300 career games played
Jack Eichel … 4 games … 200 career games played
Assists
Jack Eichel … 4 assists … 100 career assists
Points
Ryan O’Reilly … 2 points … 400 career points
Zemgus Girgensons … 4 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
Benoit Pouliot … 600th NHL game … Feb. 6 vs. ANA
Buffalo Sabres … 1,000th regular-season home win … Feb. 8 vs. NYI