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LAST GAME
Sunday, November 24
Buffalo 5 at Florida 2
Goals: Girgensons (2), Skinner, Eichel, Olofsson
Goalie: Ullmark (43 saves/45 shots)
PP: 0/2; PK: 3/4; Shots: Florida 45 – Buffalo 26
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 104)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 3; injured reserve) – 23 games
Vladimir Sobotka (lower body, Nov. 9; injured reserve) – 7 games
Marcus Johansson (upper body, Nov. 14; injured reserve) – 6 games
Kyle Okposo (concussion, Nov. 17; injured reserve) – 4 games
Tage Thompson (upper body, Nov. 19; injured reserve) – 3 games
Evan Rodrigues (lower body, Nov. 25) – 0 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/21: Activated D Zach Bogosian from IR; Placed F Tage Thompson on IR
11/22: Placed D John Gilmour on waivers
11/23: Assigned D John Gilmour to Rochester (AHL)
11/24: Acquired D Matthew Spencer from the Tampa Bay Lightning in exchange for D Devante Stephens; Assigned Spencer to Cincinnati (ECHL)
11/15: Recalled F Jean-Sebastien Dea from Rochester (AHL)
UPCOMING GAMES
Wednesday, Nov. 27: Calgary at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 29: Toronto at Buffalo, 4 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 30: Buffalo at Toronto, 7 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 2: New Jersey at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 5: Buffalo at Calgary, 9 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at LIGHTNING
- This is the third of four meetings between the Sabres and Lightning this season.
- Last meeting: Tampa Bay defeated Buffalo 5-3 in Stockholm, Sweden on Nov. 9.
- Next meeting: Tuesday, Dec. 31 in Buffalo
- The Sabres are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Lightning; 2-7-1 on the road.
- This is the 105th game all-time between Buffalo and Tampa Bay; Buffalo has a 55-40-9 series record.
- The Sabres are 29-20-4 on the road against the Lightning all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 8-11-2 all-time on November 25.
- November 25, 1970: The Sabres acquire Eddie Shack and Dick Duff from the Los Angeles Kings in exchange for Mike McMahon.
- November 25, 2000: Vladimir Tsyplakov scores 10 seconds after the opening faceoff in a 5-3 Sabres win at Montreal.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- With a win tonight, the Sabres would sweep a Florida road trip for the first time since earning wins against Tampa Bay and Florida on Nov. 10 and 12, 2015. It would be their first time doing so on consecutive nights since Jan. 29 and 30, 2008.
- All nine of Jeff Skinner’s goals this season have come during 5-on-5 play. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, he finished last night’s game tied for sixth-most in the league.
- Sam Reinhart has recorded 10 points (8+2) in his last nine games against the Lightning, including four two-point outings.
- Zach Bogosian, who recorded an assist and 22:03 of ice time in his season debut last night at Florida, has an assist in each of his last three visits to Tampa.
- Victor Olofsson tallied a point in each of his first two career matchups with Tampa Bay in Stockholm, Sweden (1+1) as part of the 2019 NHL Global Series.
- Rasmus Ristolainen has assists in six of his last nine meetings with the Lightning, including both of this season’s previous matchups.
SETTING THE PACE
- With 14 goals in 23 games so far this season, Jack Eichel is already halfway to his previous best goal total (28), set in the 2018-19 season.
- Eichel’s output through 23 games currently has him on pace to finish the season with 50 goals and 103 points, which would be the highest goal and point totals by a Sabre since Pat LaFontaine (53+95) and Alexander Mogilny (76+51) in 1992-93.
- Sam Reinhart’s eight goals through 23 games put him on pace for a career-high total (29).
- Victor Olofsson’s goal and point totals currently have him on pace for the best offensive season by a Sabres rookie in decades. If he maintains his current pace, he would finish the season with the most goals by a Sabres rookie (29) since Donald Audette’s 31 in 1991-92 and the most points by a Sabres rookie (61) since Ray Sheppard’s 65 in 1987-88.
POINTS IN BUNCHES
- Jack Eichel has recorded eight multi-point games this season, tying for 12th-most in the league.
- At the conclusion of last night’s game, his three multi-goal games tied for fifth-most (two shy of the league lead) and his six multi-assist games tied for fourth-most (one behind the league leaders).
- Eichel has already recorded at least three points five times this season, matching his previous career-high total set in the 2016-17 season. Only Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid have more games with at least three points this season.
- As of the conclusion of last night’s game, Eichel’s three games with at least four points this season tied Connor McDavid for the league lead. Since he entered the league in 2015-16, only six players have totaled at least four points more times than Eichel’s eight: Nikita Kucherov (15), Patrick Kane (10), Connor McDavid (10), Johnny Gaudreau (9), Brad Marchand (9), Steven Stamkos (9)
BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s sixth of 14 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began with a 5-2 win last night at Florida. The Sabres are 2-4-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 2-3-0 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 (0) and zero points (2).
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings after last night’s game)
- Eichel: 463 FO (4th), 10 EVG (T-6th), 14 G (T-7th), 1 OTG (T-9th), 29 PTS (T-10th), 19 EVP (T-10th)
- Hutton: 2 SO (T-1st)
- Johansson: 1 OTG (T-9th)
- Olofsson: 6 PPG (T-6th)
- Ristolainen: 77 hits (T-6th)
- Ullmark: 1 SO (T-8th)
BUF-TBL CONNECTIONS
- Lightning forward Cory Conacher played for the Sabres for one season (2013-14), posting six points (3+3) in 19 games.
- Sabres defenseman Henri Jokiharju played for the Blackhawks with Lightning defenseman Jan Rutta during the 2018-19 season.
- Sabres goaltender Carter Hutton played in St. Louis with Lightning defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk for part of the 2016-17 season.
- Sabres forward Johan Larsson played for Team Sweden with Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman at the 2012 IIHF World Championship.
- Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe and Lightning forward Tyler Johnson played for Team USA together at the 2014 IIHF World Championship.
- Sabres defenseman Jake McCabe played with Lightning forward Pat Maroon for Team USA at the 2016 IIHF World Championship.
- Sabres defenseman Brandon Montour and Lightning defenseman Luke Schenn played together in Anaheim for part of the 2018-19 season.
- Sabres defenseman Brandon Montour and forward Sam Reinhart played for Team Canada together with Lightning forward Mathieu Joseph at the 2019 IIHF World Championship.
- Sabres forwards Sam Reinhart and Curtis Lazar won a gold medal for Team Canada with Lightning forwards Anthony Cirelli and Brayden Point at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.
- Sabres forward Jeff Skinner played for Team Canada with Lightning defenseman Luke Schenn at the IIHF World Championship three times: in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Lightning forward Steven Stamkos was also on the 2013 squad.
- Sabres forward Jeff Skinner and Lightning forwards Alex Killorn and Brayden Point played for Team Canada together at the 2017 IIHF World Championship. The trio won a silver medal together.
- Sabres forward Jimmy Vesey played for the Rangers with Lightning defensemen Ryan McDonagh and Kevin Shattenkirk.
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (77), McCabe (43), Girgensons (32)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (41), Ristolainen (35), Jokiharju (22)
Shots: Skinner (82), Eichel (80), Olofsson (57)
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK]
1-10: 8-1-1 (17), 38/24, 12/39, 23/30
11-20: 2-6-2 (6), 21/35, 2/26, 21/29
21-30: 1-2-0 (2), 8/9, 1/9, 9/13
OVERTIME RESULTS (2-2; 122-130 all-time)
Oct. 7 at CBJ: L, 4-3 (GWG-Texier, 2:08)
Oct. 9 vs. MTL: W, 5-4 (GWG-Johansson, 1:30)
Oct. 22 vs. SJS: W, 4-3 (GWG-Eichel, 3:13)
Nov. 14 vs. CAR: L, 5-4 (GWG-Hamilton, 2:28)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-1; 76-70 all-time)
Oct. 11 vs. FLA: W, 3-2 (GDG-Eichel)
Oct. 28 vs. ARI: L, 3-2 (GDG-Schmaltz)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Brandon Montour … 2 games … 200 career games played
Jake McCabe … 3 games … 300 career games played
Goals
Sam Reinhart … 5 goals … 100 career goals
Points
Jimmy Vesey … 7 points … 100 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
N/A
