GAME-DAY RESOURCES
LAST GAME
Tuesday, February 11
Detroit 2 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Sheary, Johansson, Reinhart
Goalie: Hutton (27 saves/29 shots)
PP: 0/3; PK: 3/3; Shots: Detroit 29 – Buffalo 25
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 279)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 3; injured reserve) – 57 games
Vladimir Sobotka (knee, Nov. 9; injured reserve) – 41 games
Tage Thompson (shoulder, Nov. 19; injured reserve) – 37 games
Victor Olofsson (lower body, Jan. 4) – 15 games
Linus Ullmark (lower body, Jan. 30; injured reserve) – 7 games
Kyle Okposo (upper body, Feb. 1) – 6 games
Marcus Johansson (upper body, Feb. 13) – 0 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/8: Assigned F Rasmus Asplund and D Lawrence Pilut to Rochester (AHL)
2/9: Recalled D Lawrence Pilut and G Andrew Hammond from Rochester (AHL)
2/10: Assigned G Andrew Hammond to Rochester (AHL)
2/13: Assigned F Scott Wilson to Rochester (AHL); Activated F Kyle Okposo and F Victor Olofsson from IR
UPCOMING GAMES
Sunday, Feb. 16: Toronto at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 18: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 22: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 23: Winnipeg at Buffalo, 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 26: Buffalo at Colorado, 8 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
BLUE JACKETS at SABRES
- This is the third and final meeting between the Sabres and Blue Jackets this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Columbus 2-1 (OT) in Buffalo on Feb. 1
- The Sabres are 4-4-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Blue Jackets; 4-5-1 at home.
- This is the 35th game all-time between Buffalo and Columbus; Buffalo has a 13-17-4 series record.
- The Sabres are 8-9-1 at home against the Blue Jackets all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 8-5-5 all-time on February 13.
- February 13, 2004: The Sabres score seven unanswered goals in a 17-minute span and get points from 12 players to top the Los Angeles Kings 8-3 in Buffalo.
- February 13, 2011: Drew Stafford scores three goals to earn his league-high fourth hat trick of the 2010-11 season.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- Today’s game is the ninth in a 20-day stretch during which the Sabres play nine of 10 games at home. The lone road game during that span was a 3-2 win on Friday at NY Rangers. The final game of this stretch will take place on Sunday vs. Toronto.
- With a victory tonight, the Sabres would win their season series against the Blue Jackets for the first time since 2015-16.
- Sam Reinhart has recorded 16 points (9+7) in 16 games since the beginning of January. His nine goals during that stretch tied for eighth-most in the league entering play Wednesday.
HOT AGAINST COLUMBUS
- Jack Eichel has totaled eight points (4+4) in seven career home games against the Blue Jackets.
- Jeff Skinner has recorded 14 points (7+7) in his last 15 meetings with Columbus, including four points (3+1) in five games since joining the Sabres.
- Rasmus Dahlin has posted four assists in five career games against the Blue Jackets, including an assist in each of this season’s previous matchups.
- Evan Rodrigues, who scored in the last meeting between the Sabres and Blue Jackets, has totaled five points (4+1) in his last seven games against Columbus.
TEEN TITAN
- Rasmus Dahlin has totaled 76 points (13+63) through his first 129 NHL games, including 32 points (4+28) in 47 games this season.
- With his assist on Feb. 11 vs. Detroit, Dahlin tied Rick Hampton (76) for third-most points recorded by an NHL defenseman before his 20th birthday. He now trails only Phil Housley (132) and Ray Bourque (79) for most points ever recorded by a teenage defenseman.
- Aaron Ekblad’s 61 points (22+39) in 129 games as a teenager led active NHL defensemen for most points before turning 20 until Dahlin recorded his 62nd point with an assist in his 108th NHL game on Dec. 14 at NY Islanders. Andrei Svechnikov is the only active teenager in the NHL with more career points than Dahlin’s 76.
- Entering play Wednesday, Dahlin’s .59 points per game in his career ranked as the 16th-highest rate among active NHL defensemen with at least 10 career games played. His .681 points per game so far this season represent the best single-season scoring rate by a Sabres defenseman since Brian Campbell (.683) in 2007-08.
SETTING THE PACE
- With his 29th goal in his 49th game of the season on Jan. 28 vs. Ottawa, Jack Eichel topped his previous best total set in the 2018-19 season (77 GP). He now has 31 goals in 56 games played this season.
- Eichel’s output through 57 team games currently has him on pace to finish the season with 45 goals and 101 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.
- LaFontaine (83 in 1992-93), Mogilny (78 in 1992-93) and Gilbert Perreault (70 in 1975-76) are the only Sabres ever to have recorded more even-strength points in a season than the 69 Eichel is currently on pace for.
- Eichel is on pace to become just the ninth player in franchise history to record 80 points in back-to-back seasons at least once, joining Danny Gare, Dale Hawerchuk, Pat LaFontaine, Rick Martin, Alexander Mogilny, Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert and Pierre Turgeon.
- Sam Reinhart scored his 20th goal of the season in his 55th game on Feb. 7 at NY Rangers, surpassing the 2015-16 season as his previous quickest season to 20 goals (69 games). Reinhart is currently on pace to set career-high totals in both goals (30) and points (68).
JACK ATTACK
- Jack Eichel has been held without a point in just four of his last 38 games played. During that stretch, which began with a four-goal performance vs. Ottawa on Nov. 16, Buffalo’s captain has totaled 51 points (23+28) in 38 appearances, also missing one game due to injury.
- Entering play Wednesday, only three NHL players have recorded at least a point in more games this season than Eichel’s 42: Leon Draisaitl (46), Nathan MacKinnon (45) and Patrick Kane (44).
- With his assist on Feb. 11 vs. Detroit, Eichel became the 14th player ever to record 70 points in consecutive seasons at least once as a member of the Sabres. The last player to do so was Derek Roy in 2007-08 (81) and 2008-09 (70).
- Eichel recorded his 70th point of the season in his 56th game on Feb. 11 vs. Detroit, tying for the 10th-fastest season to 70 points in Sabres history. Only six different players in franchise history have reached the 70-point mark quicker: Gilbert Perreault (3x), Pat Lafontaine (2x), Rick Martin, Alexander Mogilny, Rene Robert, Pierre Turgeon.
- With his 30th goal on Jan. 30 vs. Montreal, Jack Eichel became the first Sabres player to record 30 goals and 30 assists in a season since Jason Pominville (30+43) in 2011-12. He became the 23rd different player in franchise history to accomplish this feat at least once and tied Gilbert Perreault’s 1974-75 season as the sixth-fewest games needed to reach the 30/30 mark (50).
POINTS IN BUNCHES
- Jack Eichel has recorded 18 multi-point games this season, tying as the 10th-most in the NHL before Wednesday’s games. The Sabres are 13-3-2 (.778) in those games.
- Entering play Wednesday, Eichel’s six multi-goal games tied for fourth-most in the league and his 10 multi-assist games tied for ninth-most.
- Eichel has recorded at least three points seven times this season, topping his previous career-high total (6) set in the 2016-17 season. Only Leon Draisaitl (11), Connor McDavid (11), David Pastrnak (9) and Artemi Panarin (8) had more games with at least three points this season entering play Wednesday.
- Sam Reinhart ranks second on the Sabres with 12 multi-point games this season. The team is 9-2-1 this season (.792) and 40-7-8 (.800) in his career when he records at least two points.
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 2/12 games)
- Eichel: 3 OTG (T-2nd), 23 EVG (T-3rd), 7 GWG (3rd), 48 EVP (6th), 31 G (T-6th), 70 PTS (T-6th), 21 PPP (T-9th)
- Ristolainen: 170 hits (T-10th)
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (170), Girgensons (91), McCabe (74)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (74), Ristolainen (64), Jokiharju (51)
Shots: Eichel (188), Skinner (147), Reinhart (122)
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: 3-4-3 (8), 34/34, 4/33, 23/32
31-40: 4-5-1 (9), 24/32, 4/23, 23/30
41-50: 5-5-0 (10), 30/32, 7/29, 21/29
51-60: 3-3-1 (7), 15/21, 2/15, 11/13
OVERTIME RESULTS (5-6; 125-134 all-time)
Oct. 7 at CBJ: L, 4-3 (Texier, 2:08)
Oct. 9 vs. MTL: W, 5-4 (Johansson, 1:30)
Oct. 22 vs. SJS: W, 4-3 (Eichel, 3:13)
Nov. 14 vs. CAR: L, 5-4 (Hamilton, 2:28)
Nov. 27 vs. CGY: L, 3-2 (Lindholm, 1:17)
Nov. 30 at TOR: L, 2-1 (Tavares, 1:45)
Dec. 7 at VAN: L, 6-5 (Miller, 3:21)
Dec. 8 at EDM: W, 3-2 (Miller, 1:13)
Dec. 14 at NYI: L, 3-2 (Beauvillier, 3:04)
Jan. 2 vs. EDM: W, 3-2 (Eichel, 1:09)
Feb. 1 vs. CBJ: W, 2-1 (Eichel, 0:36)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-2; 76-71 all-time)
Oct. 11 vs. FLA: W, 3-2 (GDG-Eichel)
Oct. 28 vs. ARI: L, 3-2 (GDG-Schmaltz)
Feb. 6 vs. DET: L, 4-3 (GDG-Larkin)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Henri Jokiharju … 5 games … 100 career games played
Jimmy Vesey … 7 games … 300 career games played
Scott Wilson … 7 games … 200 career games played
Colin Miller … 9 games … 300 career games played
Goals
Kyle Okposo … 8 goals … 200 career goals
Assists
Jack Eichel … 3 assists … 200 career assists
Points
Kyle Okposo … 1 point … 500 career points
Zach Bogosian … 6 points … 200 career points
Johan Larsson … 8 points … 100 career points
Wins
Carter Hutton … 10 wins … 100 career wins
RECENT MILESTONES
N/A