Game Preview: 3/8/18 at Ottawa

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Wednesday, March 7
Calgary 5 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Nelson
Goalie: Johnson (18 saves/22 shots)/Lehner (18 saves/19 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 2/2; Shots: Calgary 41 – Buffalo 26

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 234)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zach Bogosian (lower body, Jan. 11; injured reserve) – 24 games
Jake McCabe (shoulder, Feb. 8; injured reserve) – 14 games
Jack Eichel (high-ankle sprain, Feb. 11; injured reserve) – 12 games
Evan Rodrigues (upper body, March 2) – 3 games
Kyle Criscuolo (upper body, March 7) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
3/4: Recalled F Kyle Criscuolo and D Brendan Guhle from Rochester (AHL)
3/7: Recalled F Danny O’Regan from Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, March 10: Vegas at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Thursday, March 15: Toronto at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 17: Chicago at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Monday, March 19: Nashville at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, March 21: Arizona at Buffalo. 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at SENATORS

• This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Senators this season.
• Last meeting: Ottawa defeated Buffalo 3-2 (OT) in Ottawa on Feb. 15
• Next meeting: Wednesday, April 4 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 7-0-3 in their last 10 games vs. the Senators; 4-4-2 on the road
• This is the 136th game all-time between Buffalo and Ottawa; Buffalo has a 66-49-20 series record.
• The Sabres are 30-27-12 on the road against the Senators all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 10-9-5 all-time on March 8.
• March 8, 1972: Rene Robert makes his Buffalo Sabres debut in a 6-3 loss at California.
• March 8, 1991: Dale Hawerchuk scores in a 5-3 loss to Chicago, becoming the 31st NHL player to reach the 1,000-point mark.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres enter tonight’s game with a 6-1-1 record in their last eight games against Atlantic Division opponents and an 9-7-3 record against the division this season.
• The Sabres enter tonight’s game with points in 10 straight meetings with the Senators (7-0-3) for the first time in the all-time series.
• Buffalo won all three road games against Ottawa last season. The Sabres are now on a six-game point streak in visits to Ottawa (4-0-2) that spans the last two seasons and are looking to stretch that streak to seven games for the first time in the all-time series.
• Buffalo and Ottawa have had 19 of their last 25 games decided by a single goal, including 3-2 margins in each of the last three games. Eight of those games were decided in overtime or a shootout.
• The Sabres are 8-6 all-time in shootouts against the Senators. Their 14 shootouts against Ottawa make up the team’s highest total against any opponent.

HOT AGAINST OTTAWA

• Robin Lehner is 5-0-3 in 10 career appearances against his former club with a .950 save percentage and a 1.57 goals-against average. Chad Johnson is 2-2-0 with a .943 save percentage and a 1.59 goals-against average in four career games against the Senators.
• Ryan O’Reilly has 15 points (6+9) in 16 career games against Ottawa, including seven points (4+3) in his last seven.
• Kyle Okposo has 15 points (5+10) in 17 games against Ottawa since the beginning of the 2012-13 season, including at least a point in each of the last five (3+3).
• Rasmus Ristolainen has eight assists in his last eight games against Ottawa.
• Johan Larsson has totaled three points (1+2) in his last three games against the Senators.

WHO’S HOT?

• Sam Reinhart has totaled 23 points (9+14) in his last 23 games.
• Rasmus Ristolainen has 24 points (6+18) in his last 30 games dating back to Dec. 29. Ristolainen’s 24 points during that span ranked tied-seventh among NHL defensemen after last night’s game.
• Ryan O’Reilly has recorded 12 points (3+9) in his last 12 games.
• Jason Pominville has totaled seven points (2+5) in his last seven games.

ROAD WARRIORS

• The Sabres enter tonight’s game with a 6-2-1 record in their last nine road games. A win or overtime loss tonight would give the Sabres points in eight of 10 consecutive road games in the same season for the first time since the team went 7-2-1 from Feb. 29 to March 27, 2012.
• Rasmus Ristolainen has recorded 13 points (4+9) in his last 14 road games.
• Sam Reinhart has totaled 10 points (4+6) in his last 10 road games.
• Chad Johnson has stopped 78 of 82 shots faced in his last three road games (.951), earning wins in all three of those contests.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s 14th of 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, after a 5-1 loss last night vs. Calgary. The Sabres are 5-9-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 4-7-2 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 (7), one point (2) and zero points (3).

PLAYING WITH POWER

• The Sabres have tallied at least one power-play goal in 16 of their last 26 games dating back to Jan. 7 at Philadelphia (and went 0-for-0 on Jan. 11 vs. Columbus), converting at a 26.0 percent clip during that span.
• Buffalo’s 20 power-play goals during this stretch tied for the league lead after last night’s game.
• Ryan O’Reilly tied for the league lead after last night’s game with seven power-play goals scored since Jan. 7. Kyle Okposo and Rasmus Ristolainen tied for third in the league with 12 power-play points during that stretch.
• O’Reilly’s 11 power-play goals this season tied for eighth in the league after last night’s game.

DRAWING ATTENTION*

• Ryan O’Reilly, who leads the NHL in faceoffs won (1,027) and faceoff percentage (60.9%) this season, is climbing the single-season record books as well. His 1,027 wins already rank as the second-most wins by a Sabre in a season, just 12 wins from matching his 2016-17 total, a franchise-record 1,039 in 72 games.
• O’Reilly’s 1,027 faceoff wins put him on pace to log the second-most by any NHL player in a season:
  • Rod Brind’Amour (CAR), 2005-06 – 1,268
  • Ryan O’Reilly *pace* (BUF), 2017-18 – 1,260
  • Adam Oates (WSH), 1999-00 – 1,235
  • Rod Brind’Amour (CAR), 2001-02 – 1,218
  • Joe Sakic (COL), 2000-01 – 1,214
• At his current pace, O’Reilly would become just the third player ever to win at least 1,000 faceoffs in a season while maintaining a faceoff percentage of at least 59 percent, joining Rod Brind’Amour (five times) and Patrice Bergeron (two times).

*The NHL began keeping faceoff stats in the 1997-98 season.

DANGEROUS KILLERS

• Buffalo finished last night’s game tied for the league lead with nine shorthanded goals this season, the team’s highest total since the 2007-08 season (9).
• Ryan O’Reilly’s four shorthanded assists tied for the league lead after last night’s game, and his four shorthanded points tied for second.

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before after last night’s game)

• Girgensons: 2 SHG (T-6th)
• O’Reilly: 1,027 FOW (1st), 60.9% FO% (1st), 1,687 FO (1st), 4 SHP (T-2nd), 11 PPG (T-8th)
• Pouliot: 2 SHG (T-6th)
• Ristolainen: 26:26 TOI/GP (4th)

BUF-OTT CONNECTIONS
Former Senators:

• Goaltender Robin Lehner was a second-round selection (46th overall) of the Senators in the 2009 NHL Draft. He appeared in 86 games over the course of his time with Ottawa and compiled a 30-36-13 record with a .914 save percentage and a 2.88 goals-against average.

Nick Baptiste:

• He was born in Ottawa and played for the Ottawa Senators Minor Midget AAA team (OEMMHL) from 2009-2011.

Nathan Beaulieu:

• Teammates with Mike Hoffman for the Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL) during the 2009-10 season.
• Represented Canada alongside Mark Stone at the 2012 World Junior Championship.
• He and Mike Condon played together for the Montreal Canadiens during the 2015-16 season.

Josh Gorges:

• Teammates with Tom Pyatt for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2011.

Jacob Josefson:

• Represented Sweden alongside Erik Karlsson at the 2009 World Junior Championship.

Johan Larsson:

• Was a member of Team Sweden during the 2012 World Championship along with Erik Karlsson.

Ryan O’Reilly:

• Played for the Colorado Avalanche with Matt Duchene from 2009-2015. Craig Anderson was also on the team from 2009-2011.
• Teammates with Matt Duchene for Team Canada at the 2013, 2015 and 2016 World Championships.
• Played with Alexandre Burrows for Canada at the 2012 World Championship.
• Represented Canada alongside Cody Ceci at the 2016 World Championship.
• He and Matt Duchene represented Canada together at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Benoit Pouliot:

• Teammates with Tom Pyatt for the Montreal Canadiens from 2009-2011 and again for the Tampa Bay Lightning during the 2012-13 season.
• Pouliot and Pyatt also represented Canada together at the 2006 World Junior Championship.

Sam Reinhart:

• Helped represent Canada at the 2016 World Championship with Cody Ceci and Matt Duchene.

NHL Draft:

• Benoit Pouliot (4th overall) was taken two picks after Bobby Ryan (2nd overall) in the first round of the 2005 NHL Draft.
• Jacob Josefson (20th overall) and Matt Duchene (3rd overall) were both selected in the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft.
• Zemgus Girgensons and Cody Ceci were back-to-back selections in the first round of the 2012 NHL Draft. Girgensons was selected 14th overall while Ceci went 15th overall.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (172), Girgensons (118), McCabe (110)
Blocked Shots: Scandella (95), Ristolainen (92), McCabe (79)
Shots: Eichel (201), O’Reilly (178), Reinhart (145)

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: 3-6-1 (7), 28/32, 6/24, 32/38
61-70: 4-3-0 (8), 17/21, 4/22, 12/16

OVERTIME RESULTS (5-10; 113-121 all-time)
Oct. 17 at VGK: L, 5-4 (GWG-Perron, 3:52)
Oct. 21 at BOS: W, 5-4 (GWG-O’Reilly, 2:59)
Nov. 11 at MTL: L, 2-1 (GWG-Pacioretty, 3:08)
Nov. 14 at PIT: L, 5-4 (GWG-Sheary, 0:16)
Dec. 8 at CHI: L, 3-2 (GWG-Forsling, 4:55)
Dec. 10 at STL: L, 3-2 (GWG-Tarasenko, 4:24)
Dec. 15 vs. CAR: L, 5-4 (GWG-Slavin,2:15)
Dec. 27 at NYI: L, 3-2 (GWG-Barzal, 1:08)
Dec. 29 at NJD: W, 4-3 (GWG-Ristolainen, 2:37)
Jan. 1 vs. NYR: L, 3-2 (GWG-Miller, 2:43)
Jan. 22 at CGY: W, 2-1 (GWG-Eichel, 1:30)
Feb. 6 vs. ANA: L, 4-3 (GWG-Henrique, 1:36)
Feb. 15 at OTT: L, 3-2 (GWG-Hoffman,1:13)
Feb. 22 at DET: W, 3-2 (GWG-Scandella, 4:59)
Feb. 28 at TBL: W, 2-1 (GWG-Pominville, 1:26)

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

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Points
Zemgus Girgensons … 2 points … 100 career points

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A