Tag Archives: New York Islanders

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Tuesday, March 2
Buffalo 2 at NY Rangers 3
Goals: Reinhart, Rieder
Goalie: Hutton (16 saves/19 shots)
PP: 0/1; PK: 2/2; Shots: Buffalo 24 – NY Rangers 19

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 67)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zemgus Girgensons (hamstring, Jan. 14; injured reserve) – 20 games
William Borgen (forearm, Feb. 22; injured reserve) – 6 games
Jake McCabe (knee, Feb. 22; injured reserve) – 6 games
Linus Ullmark (lower body, Feb. 27; injured reserve) – 3 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/27: Recalled G Jonas Johansson from the taxi squad; Reassigned F Rasmus Asplund to the taxi squad; Placed G Linus Ullmark on injured reserve
2/28: Recalled D Brandon Davidson from the taxi squad and F C.J. Smith from Rochester (AHL) to the taxi squad; Loaned D Jacob Bryson to the taxi squad; Reassigned D Casey Fitzgerald from the taxi squad to Rochester (AHL)
3/1: Reassigned D Brandon Davidson to the taxi squad
3/2: Recalled D Jacob Bryson from the taxi squad; Loaned F Casey Mittelstadt to the taxi squad

UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, March 6: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 1 p.m.
Sunday, March 7: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 12 p.m.
Tuesday, March 9: Buffalo at Philadelphia, 7 p.m.
Thursday, March 11: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, March 13: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME

SABRES at ISLANDERS

• This is the fourth of eight meetings between the Sabres and Islanders this season.
• Last meeting: New York defeated Buffalo 3-2 in New York on Feb. 22, 2021.
• Next meeting: Saturday, March 6 in New York
• The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Islanders; 2-6-2 on the road.
• This is the 177th game all-time between Buffalo and New York; Buffalo has an 82-69-25 series record.
• The Sabres are 36-38-13 on the road against the Islanders all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 10-9-3 all-time on March 4.
• March 4, 1972: The Sabres acquire Rene Robert in a trade that completes the French Connection.
• March 4, 1983: Mal Davis tallies four points and 15 Buffalo players appear on the score sheet in a 10-2 win vs. Pittsburgh.
• March 4, 2009: Thomas Vanek plays in his 300th career NHL game, a 5-1 win vs. Montreal.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Buffalo’s penalty kill is 19-for-22 (86.4%) in the team’s last 12 games against the Islanders.
• The Sabres have killed off eight consecutive penalties and have not surrendered a power-play goal in three straight games. If the team remains perfect on the penalty kill today, it will make the second time this season and first since Jan. 15 to Jan. 22 that Buffalo played four consecutive games without allowing a power-play goal.
• Taylor Hall has recorded 18 points (9+9) in his 19 games against the Islanders dating back to the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
• Jack Eichel has totaled 10 points (3+7) in his 11 meetings with the Islanders since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
• Victor Olofsson has points (3+1) in four of his six career games against the Islanders.
• Rasmus Dahlin has tallied three power-play assists in his last four games against the Islanders.

THREE IN A ROW

• Tonight’s matchup marks the first time the Sabres will play a team three straight times in the same regular season in franchise history.
• Buffalo has previously played the same opponent in three straight regular-season games on four occasions by wrapping up one season and beginning the next against the same team: Montreal (1987-88 and 1988-89), Quebec (1981-82 and 1982-83; 1991-92 and 1992-93) and Washington (2019-20 and 2020-21).
• The Sabres have previously played the same team three times in a 10-day period just 15 times in franchise history. Before doing so against New Jersey in February, Buffalo had never played the same team three times in a seven-day span.

CONNECTIONS

• Sabres forward Kyle Okposo played for the Islanders from 2007-08 to 2015-16 after being drafted in by the team with the seventh overall pick in the 2006 NHL Draft. Okposo totaled 369 points (139+230) in 529 games with the Islanders.
• Islanders director of goaltending Mitch Korn was the Sabres’ goaltending coach from 1990-91 to 1997-98.
• Islanders assistant video coordinator Corey Smith was the Sabres video coach in 2014-15 and 2015-16. He is the brother of current Sabres video coordinator Kyle Smith and the son of former Sabre Derek Smith.
• Sabres forward Cody Eakin won a silver medal for Team Canada with Islanders forward Casey Cizikas at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship.
• Sabres forward Jack Eichel and Islanders forwards Anders Lee and Brock Nelson all played for Team USA at both the 2015 and 2017 IIHF World Championships, winning a bronze medal in 2015.
• Sabres forward Taylor Hall and Islanders forward Jordan Eberle were teammates in Edmonton for six seasons (2010-11 to 2015-16).
• Sabres defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen and Islanders forward Leo Komarov both played for Finland’s National Team at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
• Sabres forward Jeff Skinner and Islanders forward Jordan Eberle played for Team Canada together at three consecutive IIHF World Championships: in 2011, 2012 and 2013. Islanders forward Cal Clutterbuck was also on the 2011 roster and Sabres forward Eric Staal played with the duo in 2013.
• Jeff Skinner won a silver medal with Team Canada at the 2017 IIHF World Championship. Islanders Head Coach Barry Trotz was one of Canada’s assistant coaches at the tournament.
• Sabres forwards Curtis Lazar and Sam Reinhart played for Team Canada with Islanders defenseman Adam Pelech at the 2014 IIHF World Junior Championship.

DRAWING ATTENTION

• Entering play Wednesday, the Sabres tied for sixth in the NHL with a team faceoff percentage of 52.7
• Buffalo’s top four faceoff takers (Jack Eichel, Eric Staal, Cody Eakin and Riley Sheahan) each have a faceoff percentage of at least 50 percent.
• Entering play Wednesday, Sheahan ranked 4th among all players with at least 50 faceoffs taken this season with a win percentage of 61.1 percent (80-for-131).

POWER UP

• Buffalo entered play Wednesday third in the NHL with a 7 percent conversion rate on the power play.
• The Sabres have scored at least one power-play goal in 11 of their last 15 games, going 16-for-45 (35.6%) during that stretch.
• Entering play Wednesday, the Sabres were tied with the Carolina Hurricanes and trailed only the Chicago Blackhawks (11) for the NHL lead with 10 different players with at least one goal on the power play.
• Victor Olofsson entered play Wednesday tied for fourth in the league with six power-play goals and tied for fourth with 12 power-play points. His 19 career power-play tallies tie him with Steven Stamkos and trail only David Pastrnak (25), Leon Draisaitl (21) and Auston Matthews (20) for the most in the league since he made his NHL debut on March 28, 2019.

OUT OF THE BOX

• Entering play Wednesday, the Sabres were the least-penalized team in the NHL with 5:18 of penalty time per game.
• At plus-17 (66 drawn/49 taken), the Sabres also had the best penalty differential in the league.

STAAL-TIME LEADERS

• Eric Staal scored his 439th career goal on Jan. 30 vs. New Jersey to pass Gary Roberts and improve to 68th on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list. His next goal will tie Rick Tocchet for 67th.
• Among active players, Staal’s total of 439 career regular-season goals trails only Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, and Sidney Crosby.
• With 1,029 career points, Staal is currently tied with Alex Kovalev for 80th-most points in NHL history and trails Alexander Mogilny by three points for 79th.

WE LIKE EICH

• Jack Eichel’s goal on Jan. 28 vs. NY Rangers moved him past Jochen Hecht for sole possession of the 19th-most goals in franchise history (139). He currently trails Drew Stafford by six goals for 18th.
• Eichel’s career per-game output ranks in the franchise’s top 15 in every major scoring category (min. 82 GP): .37 G/GP (T-15th), .57 A/GP (10th), .95 PTS/GP (11th)

RISTO IN THE RECORD BOOK

• With his goal on Jan. 15 vs. Washington, Rasmus Ristolainen broke a tie with Bill Hajt for the 10th-most goals by a defenseman in Sabres history. He now trails Tyler Myers and Jim Schoenfeld by one goal for eighth-most.
• Ristolainen’s first assist on Jan. 24 at Washington moved him past Jim Schoenfeld for the seventh-most career points recorded by a Sabres defenseman. He currently trails Bill Hajt by 10 points for sixth-most.
• Ristolainen holds the franchise record for most overtime goals by a defenseman (4) and is tied for ninth all-time among the team’s blueliners with six game-winning goals.
• Ristolainen’s career per-game output ranks him among the franchise’s top 15 defensemen in every major scoring category (min. 82 GP): .09 G/GP (T-11th), .38 A/GP (T-11th), .46 PTS/GP (11th)

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

• Buffalo Sabres:7% PP% (3rd), 52.7% FOW% (T-6th)
• Olofsson: 12 PPP (T-4th), 6 PPG (T-4th)
• Reinhart: 5 PPG (T-8th)

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (50), Lazar (39), Miller (36)
Blocked Shots: Montour (23), Miller (21), Irwin (18)
Shots: Eichel (55), Hall (54), Dahlin (49)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 4-4-2 (10), 30/32, 12/39, 19/23
11-20: 2-7-1 (5), 16/28, 7/23, 18/23

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-2; 126-136 all-time)
Jan. 28 vs. NYR: L, 3-2 (GWG-Lafrenière, 2:47)
Feb. 25 vs. NJD: L, 4-3 (GWG-Zacha, 1;17)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (2-1; 79-72 all-time)
Jan. 22 at WSH: L, 4-3 (GDG-Carlson)
Jan. 24 at WSH: W, 4-3 (GDG-Eichel)
Jan. 30 vs. NJD: W, 4-3 (GDG-Eichel)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Goals
Rasmus Ristolainen … 1 goal … 45 career goals (T-8th in franchise history, defensemen)
Kyle Okposo … 4 goals … 200 career goals
Assists
Riley Sheahan … 1 assist … 100 career assists
Colin Miller … 10 assists … 100 career assists
Eric Staal … 10 assists … 600 career assists
Points
Brandon Montour … 6 points … 100 career points
Rasmus Dahlin … 8 points … 100 career points
Wins
Carter Hutton … 6 wins … 100 career wins

RECENT MILESTONES
Curtis Lazar … 300th NHL game … Feb. 27 vs. PHI

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Saturday, February 20
Buffalo 3 at New Jersey 2
Goals: Reinhart (2), Miller
Goalie: Ullmark (25 saves/27 shots)
PP: 1/1; PK: 2/3; Shots: Buffalo 29 – New Jersey 27

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 39)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zemgus Girgensons (hamstring, Jan. 14; injured reserve) – 14 games
Rasmus Ristolainen (COVID-19, Feb. 15) – 4 games
Jake McCabe (lower body, Feb. 22) – 0 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/16: Recalled F Rasmus Asplund from the taxi squad; Loaned F Steven Fogarty and D Brandon Davidson to the taxi squad
2/17: Loaned F Rasmus Asplund and D William Borgen to the taxi squad; Reassigned F Steven Fogarty, F Andrew Oglevie, F C.J. Smith and D Jacob Bryson to Rochester (AHL)
2/18: Recalled D William Borgen from the taxi squad; loaned F Casey Mittelstadt to the taxi squad
2/21: Reassigned D Jacob Bryson and D Casey Fitzgerald from Rochester (AHL) to the taxi squad

UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Feb. 23: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 25: New Jersey at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 27: Philadelphia at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Feb. 28: Philadelphia at Buffalo, 3 p.m.
Tuesday, March 2: Buffalo at NY Rangers, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at ISLANDERS

• This is the third of eight meetings between the Sabres and Islanders this season.
• Last meeting: New York defeated Buffalo 3-0 in Buffalo on Feb. 16, 2021.
• Next meeting: Thursday, March 4 in New York
• The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Islanders; 3-5-2 on the road.
• This is the 176th game all-time between Buffalo and New York; Buffalo has an 82-68-25 series record.
• The Sabres are 36-37-13 at home against the Islanders all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 7-4-2 all-time on February 22.
• February 22, 1989: Darcy Wakaluk stops all 13 shots faced in relief and the Sabres score five unanswered goals to erase a three-goal deficit and defeat the New York Islanders 7-5.
• February 22, 2007: Patrick Kaleta records his first career point (an assist) in his NHL debut vs. Ottawa. The Sabres win the game 6-5 in a shootout after the teams combine to record 136 penalty minutes.
• February 22, 2011: Terry Pegula announces his purchase of the Buffalo Sabres. The Sabres would finish the season by going 16-4-4 in the 24 games after the purchase to make the playoffs.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres’ special teams are plus-7 this season, with 15 goals for and eight goals against. Entering play Sunday, they were tied for the third-best differential in the league.
• Buffalo’s penalty kill is 18-for-20 (90.0%) in the team’s last 11 games against the Islanders.
• Taylor Hall has recorded 18 points (9+9) in his 18 games against the Islanders dating back to the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
• Jack Eichel has totaled 10 points (3+7) in his 10 meetings with the Islanders since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
• Victor Olofsson has scored in three of his five career games against the Islanders.
• Linus Ullmark is 3-2-1 in six career games against the Islanders with a .922 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game opens Buffalo’s fifth of 12 sets of back-to-back games this season, which continues tomorrow at New Jersey. The Sabres are 2-2-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 0-4-0 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 (2), one point (0) and zero points (2).

DRAWING ATTENTION

• Entering play Sunday, the Sabres ranked second in the NHL with a team faceoff percentage of 54.5 percent.
• The Sabres joined Nashville as the only teams whose top four faceoff takers (Jack Eichel, Eric Staal, Cody Eakin and Riley Sheahan) all had a faceoff percentage of at least 50 percent entering play Sunday. All four Sabres are currently on pace for career-high faceoff percentages.
• Eichel ranked seventh in in the NHL in faceoffs taken per game (19.9) and eighth in faceoffs won per game (10.6) entering play Sunday.
• Entering play Sunday, Sheahan ranked fifth among all players with at least 30 faceoffs taken this season with a win percentage of 60.4 percent (55-for-91).

POWER UP

• Buffalo entered play Sunday with the third-ranked power play in the league. The team has scored on 15 of its 46 power-play opportunities this season for a 32.6 percent conversion rate.
• The Sabres have scored at least one power-play goal in eight of their last nine games, going 12-for-29 (41.1%) in those contests.
• Before Sunday’s games, the Sabres tied Chicago for the NHL lead with nine different players with at least one goal on the power play. Their 10 players with at least one power-play point this season tied for 10th-most in the league.
• Victor Olofsson entered play Sunday tied for third in the league with five power-play goals and tied for sixth with 10 power-play points. His 18 career power-play tallies trailed only David Pastrnak (23), Leon Draisaitl (21) and Auston Matthews (20) for the most in the league since he made his NHL debut on March 28, 2019.

OUT OF THE BOX

• Entering play Sunday, the Sabres were the least-penalized team in the NHL with 5:04 of penalty time per game.
• At plus-15 (49 drawn/34 taken), the Sabres also had the best penalty differential in the league.

EVEN-STRENGTH IMPROVEMENT
The Sabres have seen a positive trend at even strength through the team’s first 14 games of the season. So far, Buffalo’s 5-on-5 numbers have improved on the team’s per-60 rates from last season in several meaningful categories, including shot differential, shot attempt differential, scoring chance differential, high-danger scoring chance differential and expected goal differential.

 BRICK WALL

• Linus Ullmark stopped all three shooters in Buffalo’s last shootout on Jan. 30 vs. New Jersey to improve to 2-1 with nine saves on 10 attempts this season.
• Ullmark is 6-3 in shootouts in his career with 30 saves on 35 career shots faced (.857). His six career shootout wins rank him third in franchise history behind Ryan Miller (49) and Jhonas Enroth (10).
• Entering play Sunday, Ullmark’s shootout save percentage of .857 ranked second all-time among NHL goaltenders with at least 20 shots faced and first among active NHL goalies.

STAAL-TIME LEADERS

• Eric Staal scored his 439th career goal on Jan. 30 vs. New Jersey to pass Gary Roberts and improve to 68th on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list. His next goal will tie Rick Tocchet for 67th.
• Among active players, Staal’s total of 439 career regular-season goals trails only Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, and Sidney Crosby.
• With the goal, Staal also broke a tie with Patrik Elias for 82nd-most points in NHL history. With 1,027 career points, he is currently one point behind Brian Leetch for 81st-most.

WE LIKE EICH

• Jack Eichel’s goal on Jan. 28 vs. NY Rangers moved him past Jochen Hecht for sole possession of the 19th-most goals in franchise history (139). He currently trails Drew Stafford by six goals for 18th.
• Eichel’s career per-game output ranks in the franchise’s top 15 in every major scoring category (min. 82 GP): .38 G/GP (15th), .57 A/GP (10th), .95 PTS/GP (11th)

RISTO IN THE RECORD BOOK

• With his goal on Jan. 15 vs. Washington, Rasmus Ristolainen broke a tie with Bill Hajt for the 10th-most goals by a defenseman in Sabres history. He now trails Tyler Myers and Jim Schoenfeld by one goal for eighth-most.
• Ristolainen’s first assist on Jan. 24 at Washington moved him past Jim Schoenfeld for the seventh-most career points recorded by a Sabres defenseman. He currently trails Bill Hajt by 11 points for sixth-most.
• Ristolainen holds the franchise record for most overtime goals by a defenseman (4) and is tied for ninth all-time among the team’s blueliners with six game-winning goals.
• Ristolainen’s career per-game output ranks him among the franchise’s top 15 defensemen in every major scoring category (min. 82 GP): .09 G/GP (14th), .38 A/GP (12th), .46 PTS/GP (11th)

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 2/21 games)

• Buffalo Sabres: 54.5% FOW% (2nd), 32.6% PP% (3rd)
• Olofsson: 5 PPG (T-3rd), 10 PPP (T-6th)
• Eichel: 9 PPP (T-9th)

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (35), Lazar (28), Miller (26)
Blocked Shots: Miller (16), McCabe (15), Montour (14)
Shots: Eichel (45), Dahlin (38), Olofsson (38)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 4-4-2 (10), 30/32, 12/39, 19/23
11-20: 1-3-0 (2), 5/11, 3/7, 5/8

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 126-135 all-time)
Jan. 28 vs. NYR: L, 3-2 (GDG-Lafrenière)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (2-1; 79-72 all-time)
Jan. 22 at.WSH: L, 4-3 (GDG-Carlson)
Jan. 24 at WSH: W, 4-3 (GDG-Eichel)
Jan. 30 vs. NJD: W, 4-3 (GDG-Eichel)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Curtis Lazar … 4 games … 300 career games played
Goals
Rasmus Ristolainen … 1 goal … 45 career goals (T-8th in franchise history, defensemen)
Kyle Okposo … 4 goals … 200 career goals
Assists
Riley Sheahan … 1 assist … 100 career assists
Points
Brandon Montour … 6 points … 100 career points
Wins
Carter Hutton … 6 wins … 100 career wins 

RECENT MILESTONES
Cody Eakin … 600th NHL game … Feb. 20 at NJD

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

LAST GAME
Monday, February 15
NY Islanders 3 at Buffalo 1
Goals: Olofsson
Goalie: Ullmark (26 saves/29 shots)
PP: 1/2; PK: 1/2; Shots: NY Islanders 29 – Buffalo 21

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 28)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Zemgus Girgensons (hamstring, Jan. 14; injured reserve) – 11 games
Dylan Cozens (COVID protocol, Feb. 15) – 1 game
Curtis Lazar (COVID protocol, Feb. 15) – 1 game
Jake McCabe (COVID protocol, Feb. 15) – 1 game
Casey Mittelstadt (COVID protocol, Feb. 15) – 1 game
Brandon Montour (COVID protocol, Feb. 15) – 1 game
Rasmus Ristolainen (COVID protocol, Feb. 15) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
2/10: Reassigned G Dustin Tokarski from Rochester (AHL) to the taxi squad; Reassigned F C.J. Smith from the taxi squad to Rochester (AHL)
2/11: Reassigned F C.J. Smith from Rochester (AHL) to the taxi squad; Reassigned G Dustin Tokarski from the taxi squad to Rochester (AHL)
2/12: Reassigned G Dustin Tokarski from Rochester (AHL) to the taxi squad; Reassigned F C.J. Smith from the taxi squad to Rochester (AHL)
2/13: Reassigned F Steven Fogarty, F C.J. Smith and D Jacob Bryson from Rochester (AHL) to the taxi squad; Reassigned G Dustin Tokarski from the taxi squad to Rochester (AHL)
2/15: Recalled F Steven Fogarty, D William Borgen and D Brandon Davidson from the taxi squad; Reassigned F Rasmus Asplund and F Andrew Oglevie from Rochester (AHL) to the taxi squad
2/16: Recalled F Rasmus Asplund from the taxi squad; Loaned F Steven Fogarty and D Brandon Davidson to the taxi squad

UPCOMING GAMES
Thursday, Feb. 18: Buffalo at Washington, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 20: Buffalo at New Jersey, 12:30 p.m.
Monday, Feb. 22: Buffalo at NY Islanders, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Feb. 23: Buffalo at New Jersey, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Feb. 25: New Jersey at Buffalo, 7 p.m.

TONIGHT’S GAME
ISLANDERS at SABRES

• This is the second of eight meetings between the Sabres and Islanders this season.
• Last meeting: New York defeated Buffalo 3-1 in Buffalo on Feb. 15, 2021.
• Next meeting: Monday, February 22 in New York
• The Sabres are 2-6-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Islanders; 4-6-0 at home.
• This is the 175th game all-time between Buffalo and New York; Buffalo has an 82-67-25 series record.
• The Sabres are 46-30-12 at home against the Islanders all-time.

THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 14-4-4 all-time on February 16.
• February 16, 2004: Miroslav Satan scores a career-high four goals, including his 250th NHL goal and 500th NHL point, leading the Sabres to a 7-2 victory vs. Atlanta.
• February 16, 2012: Thomas Vanek scores his 225th NHL goal in a 7-2 loss at Philadelphia, passing Miroslav Satan for seventh-most goals in team history. Vanek would finish his time with the Sabres ranked fifth in team history with 254 career regular-season goals.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Buffalo’s penalty kill is 16-for-18 (88.9%) in the team’s last 10 games against the Islanders.
• Victor Olofsson enters tonight’s game on a career-best, seven-game point streak (3+5).
• The Sabres’ special teams are plus-8 this season, with 13 goals for and five goals against. Following last night’s game, they were tied with the Boston Bruins for the second-best differential in the league, trailing only the Colorado Avalanche (plus-11).
• Rasmus Dahlin’s three shots on goal per game tied for fourth among all NHL defensemen at the conclusion of last night’s game.

HOT AGAINST NEW YORK

• Taylor Hall has recorded 18 points (9+9) in his 17 games against the Islanders dating back to the beginning of the 2013-14 season.
• Jack Eichel has totaled 10 points (3+7) in his nine meetings with the Islanders since the beginning of the 2017-18 season.
• Victor Olofsson has scored in three of his four career games against the Islanders.
• Linus Ullmark is 3-2-1 in six career games against the Islanders with a .922 save percentage and a 2.16 goals-against average.

BACK-TO-BACK
Tonight’s game wraps up Buffalo’s fourth of 12 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began last night with a 3-2 loss vs. NY Islanders. The Sabres are 2-2-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 0-3-0 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 (2), one point (0) and zero points (1).

DRAWING ATTENTION

• Following last night’s game, the Sabres ranked second in the NHL with a team faceoff percentage of 55.2 percent.
• The Sabres joined the Anaheim Ducks (Ryan Getzlaf, Derek Grant, Sam Steel, Adam Henrique) as the only teams whose top four faceoff takers (Jack Eichel, Eric Staal, Cody Eakin and Riley Sheahan) all had a faceoff percentage of at least 50 percent at the conclusion of last night’s game. All four Sabres are currently on pace for career-high faceoff percentages.
• Eichel ranked seventh in in the NHL in faceoffs taken per game (21.0) and fifth in faceoffs won per game (11.3) after last night’s game.
• After last night’s game, Sheahan ranked fifth among all players with at least 30 faceoffs taken this season with a win percentage of 62.3 percent (48-for-77).

POWER UP

• Buffalo finished last night’s game with the fifth-ranked power play in the league. The team has scored on 13 of its 41 power play opportunities this season for a 31.7 percent conversion rate.
• The Sabres have scored at least one power-play goal in each of their last six games, going 10-for-24 (41.7%) in those contests.
• Following last night’s game, the Sabres led the NHL with nine different players with at least one goal on the power play. Their 10 players with at least one power-play point this season tied for eighth-most in the league.
• Victor Olofsson finished last night’s game tied for fourth in the league with four power-play goals. His 17 career power-play tallies trailed only David Pastrnak (22) and Leon Draisaitl (20) for the most in the league since he made his NHL debut on March 28, 2019.

PLAYING WITH POWER

• Victor Olofsson has recorded a power-play point in each of the Sabres’ last six games, totaling seven power-play points in those contests (3+4). His nine power-play points this season (4+5) tied for sixth-most in the league at the conclusion of last night’s game.
• He is the first NHL player to record power-play points in six straight games since David Pastrnak (Dec. 23, 2019 to Jan. 4, 2020) and the first Sabres player to do so since Daniel Briere (Oct. 20 to Nov. 2, 2005).
• Only two Sabres have recorded power-play points in more than six consecutive games: Dave Andreychuk (11, Oct. 21 to Nov. 14, 1992) and Pat LaFontaine (8, Jan. 21 to Feb. 4, 1992).

KILLING IT

• Following last night’s game, the Sabres were the least-penalized team in the NHL with 5:21 of penalty time per game. At plus-16 (44 drawn/28 taken), the Sabres also had the best penalty differential in the league.
• The Sabres have killed 14 of their last 16 penalties to improve to 80.0 percent on the penalty kill this season, tying for 15th in the NHL as of the conclusion of last night’s game.
• Through 11 games, Buffalo has allowed just five power-play goals against. Following last night’s game, the team ranked fourth in the NHL with .45 power-play goals against per game.

EVEN-STRENGTH IMPROVEMENT
The Sabres have seen a positive trend at even strength through the team’s first 11 games of the season. So far, Buffalo’s 5-on-5 numbers have improved on the team’s per-60 rates from last season in several meaningful categories, including shot differential, shot attempt differential, scoring chance differential, high-danger scoring chance differential and expected goal differential.

 BRICK WALL

• Linus Ullmark stopped all three shooters in Buffalo’s last shootout on Jan. 30 vs. New Jersey to improve to 2-1 with nine saves on 10 attempts this season.
• Ullmark is 6-3 in shootouts in his career with 30 saves on 35 career shots faced (.857). His six career shootout wins rank him third in franchise history behind Ryan Miller (49) and Jhonas Enroth (10).
• Entering play Sunday, Ullmark’s shootout save percentage of .857 ranked second all-time among NHL goaltenders with at least 20 shots faced and first among active NHL goalies.

STAAL-TIME LEADERS

• Eric Staal scored his 439th career goal on Jan. 30 vs. New Jersey to pass Gary Roberts and improve to 68th on the NHL’s all-time goal-scoring list. His next goal will tie Rick Tocchet for 67th.
• Among active players, Staal’s total of 439 career regular-season goals trails only Alex Ovechkin, Patrick Marleau, and Sidney Crosby.
• The goal was Staal’s 1,026th career point, breaking a tie with Patrik Elias for 82nd-most in NHL history. He is two points behind Brian Leetch for 81st.

WE LIKE EICH

• Jack Eichel’s goal on Jan. 28 vs. NY Rangers moved him past Jochen Hecht for sole possession of the 19th-most goals in franchise history (139). He now trails Drew Stafford by six goals for 18th.
• Eichel’s career per-game output ranks in the franchise’s top 15 in every major scoring category (min. 82 GP): .38 G/GP (14th), .57 A/GP (10th), .96 PTS/GP (11th)

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

• Buffalo Sabres: 55.2% FOW% (2nd), 31.7% PP% (5th), 31.2 S/GP (8th)
• Olofsson: 4 PPG (T-4th), 9 PPP (T-6th)

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (35), Lazar (25), Miller (19)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (13), Ristolainen (13), Montour (12)
Shots: Eichel (41), Dahlin (33), Olofsson (33)

SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK] 1-10: 4-4-2 (10), 30/32, 12/39, 19/23
11-20: 0-1-0 (0), 1/3, 1/2, 1/2

OVERTIME RESULTS (0-1; 126-135 all-time)
Jan. 28 vs. NYR: L, 3-2 (GDG-Lafrenière)

SHOOTOUT RESULTS (2-1; 79-72 all-time)
Jan. 22 at.WSH: L, 4-3 (GDG-Carlson)
Jan. 24 at WSH: W, 4-3 (GDG-Eichel)
Jan. 30 vs. NJD: W, 4-3 (GDG-Eichel)

MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played
Cody Eakin … 3 games … 600 career games played
Goals
Kyle Okposo … 4 goals … 200 career goals
Assists
Riley Sheahan … 1 assist … 100 career assists
Wins
Carter Hutton … 6 wins … 100 career wins

RECENT MILESTONES
N/A