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2017-18-Season Wrap-Up (PDF)

Top Team Notes:

• The Sabres tied for sixth in the league with nine shorthanded goals in 2017-18, the team’s highest total since 2005-06 (10).
• With consecutive wins in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver from Jan. 22 to 25, the Sabres swept a Western Canada road trip for the first time since March 1998.
• Robin Lehner and Chad Johnson combined to keep the Sabres’ opponents scoreless for 199:19 during the team’s games from Jan. 22 to Jan. 30, marking the team’s longest shutout streak since the franchise-record 226:24 set from Jan. 16 to 25, 2003.
• The Sabres finished the season with three 50-point players (Eichel/O’Reilly/Reinhart) for the first time since the 2011-12 season (Pominville/Vanek/Stafford).
• Jack Eichel (21 years old) and Sam Reinhart (22 years old) became the first pair of 25-goal scorers under 23 years of age for the Sabres since Alexander Mogilny and Donald Audette each topped 25 as 22-year-olds in the 1991-92 season.

Top Player Notes:

Jack Eichel

• Jack Eichel became the ninth unique player in franchise history to lead the team or tie for the team lead in goals, assists and points. He was the first to do so since 2012-13 (Thomas Vanek) and at 21 years of age, he was the youngest player to do so since Pierre Turgeon in 1989-90.
  • Four players have led (or tied to lead) the Sabres in all three categories twice in their careers: Gilbert Perreault (1976-77 and 1977-78), Pierre Turgeon (1988-89 and 1989-90), Miroslav Satan (2001-02 and 2002-03) and Thomas Vanek (2010-11 and 2012-13).
• With his 25th goal of the season on March 29 vs. Detroit,  Eichel became the first Sabre aged 21 or younger to reach the 25-goal mark since Pierre Turgeon did so in the 1990-91 season.
• Eichel became just the fourth player in franchise history to score 20 or more goals in each of his first three NHL seasons, joining Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Thomas Vanek.
• Eichel joined Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin, Phil Housley and Christian Ruuttu as the only Sabres to record at least 50 points in each of their first three NHL seasons.
• Eichel set a new career high with .96 points per game this season. It was the team’s highest points-per-game mark among players with at least 10 games played since Thomas Vanek logged 1.08 points per game in 38 games in 2012-13.
  • His .58 assist per game game ranked as the team’s best rate (min. 10 games) since Derek Roy had .71 assists per game in 35 games in 2010-11.
• Eichel finished the season ranked ninth in the league with 1.09 points per game on the road (38 points in 35 games). It was the highest road scoring rate by a Sabre since Thomas Vanek recorded 23 points in 20 road games (1.15) in 2012-13 and the highest in a full season since Daniel Briere recorded 48 points in 39 road games (1.23) in 2006-07.
• Of Eichel’s 64 points this season, 27 were goals or primary assists recorded during 5-on-5 play (excludes 6-on-5 situations). This topped his previous career-best total from his 81-game rookie season (24) by three in 14 fewer games.
• Eichel’s five assists on March 31 at Nashville tied the Sabres’ franchise record for most assists in a game. Eichel joined Gilbert Perreault (3x), Pat LaFontaine (3x) and Dale Hawerchuk as the only players in Sabres history to accomplish this feat.
• Despite missing 15 games with a high-ankle sprain, Eichel has topped his previous personal bests in goals (24), assists (33) and points (57) on the strength of improved production at even strength.

Robin Lehner

• Robin Lehner logged a career-best three shutouts this season, bringing his career total to eight. Lehner’s six shutouts as a member of the Sabres rank him eighth in franchise history.

Ryan O’Reilly

• Ryan O’Reilly led the league and set a career high with a faceoff win percentage of 60.0 percent. It was the best season by a Sabres center since the league began publishing faceoff percentage in 1997-98:
  • Ryan O’Reilly – 60.0% (2017-18)
  • Paul Gaustad – 59.8% (2010-11)
  • Chris Gratton – 58.9% (2002-03)
  • Chris Drury – 58.8% (2006-07)
  • Ryan O’Reilly – 58.0% (2016-17)
• O’Reilly also led the NHL in faceoffs won, edging Rod Brind’Amour (1,268 in 2005-06) to set an NHL record for the most by any NHL player in a season. His 954 wins at even strength shattered the previous single-season record (Brind’Amour, 870 in 2001-02).
  • His 29 faceoff wins on Feb. 11 vs. Colorado set a single-game franchise record and tied as the sixth most wins by a player since the league began tracking faceoff stats in the 1997-98 season.
• O’Reilly  became 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 Brind’Amour (five times) and Patrice Bergeron (two times).

Jason Pominville

• Pominville moved up the franchise’s all-time leaderboard to rank 12th in regular-season games played (660), eighth in assists (289) and 11th in points (490).

Sam Reinhart

• Sam Reinhart totaled 37 points (18+19) in his last 38 games of the season. His has 20 goals in 43 games in 2018 tied him for 12th-most in the league from Jan. 1 onward.

Rasmus Ristolainen

• At 26:29, Rasmus Ristolainen averaged the most ice time per game of his career, edging last year’s total by six seconds per game. It was the highest average ice time by a Sabres skater in a full season with the team since Alexei Zhitnik (26:33) in 2002-03.

Marco Scandella

• Marco Scandella recorded 17 assists this season, topping his previous career high (16) set in the 2015-16 season. He finished one point shy of his career-best 23 points.

End-Of-Season Press Conferences
General Manager Jason Botterill
Head Coach Phil Housley

Locker Room Clean-Out Interviews
Victor Antipin
Zach Bogosian
Jack Eichel
Josh Gorges
Chad Johnson
Jake McCabe
Casey Mittelstadt
Kyle Okposo
Ryan O’Reilly
Jason Pominville
Sam Reinhart
Rasmus Ristolainen
Evan Rodrigues
Scott Wilson

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres ranked in the top 10)

• Eichel: 3.67 S/GP (7th)
• O’Reilly: 1,274 FOW (1st), 60.0% FO% (1st), 2,124 FO (1st), 15 PPG (T-3rd), 4 SHP (T-6th)
• Ristolainen: 26:29 TOI/GP (4th)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS
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: 5-4-1 (11), 24/31, 6/32, 20/25
71-80: 3-7-0 (6), 24/40, 9/36, 16/24
81-82: 0-2-0 (0), 8/11, 3/8, 5/6

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 (1-2; 70-66 all-time)
Oct. 5 vs. MTL: L, 3-2 (GDG-Drouin)
March 8 at OTT: W, 4-3 (GDG-Josefson)
March 10 vs. VGK: L, 2-1 (GDG-Haula)