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LAST GAME
Saturday, January 4
Florida 2 at Buffalo 3
Goals: Jokiharju, Sheary, Reinhart
Goalie: Ullmark (32 saves/34 shots)
PP: 1/3; PK: 3/3; Shots: Florida 34 – Buffalo 18
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 196)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 3; injured reserve) – 43 games
Vladimir Sobotka (knee, Nov. 9; injured reserve) – 27 games
Tage Thompson (upper body, Nov. 19; injured reserve) – 23 games
Jeff Skinner (upper body, Dec. 29; injured reserve) – 4 games
Victor Olofsson (lower body, Jan. 4; injured reserve) – 1 game
Jake McCabe (upper body, Jan. 9) – 0 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
1/3: Recalled F Scott Wilson from Rochester (AHL)
1/6: Assigned F Dalton Smith to Rochester (AHL)
1/7: Recalled D Lawrence Pilut from Rochester (AHL)
1/8: Placed F Victor Olofsson on IR
UPCOMING GAMES
Saturday, Jan. 11: Vancouver at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Sunday, Jan. 12: Buffalo at Detroit, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, Jan. 14: Vegas at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 16: Buffalo at Dallas, 8:30 p.m.
Saturday, Jan. 18: Buffalo at Nashville, 8 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at BLUES
- This is the second of two meetings between the Sabres and Blues this season.
- Last meeting: Buffalo defeated St. Louis 5-2 in Buffalo on Dec. 10, 2019
- The Sabres are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games vs. the Blues; 1-5-4 on the road.
- This is the 122nd game all-time between Buffalo and St. Louis; Buffalo has a 48-56-17 series record.
- The Sabres are 15-33-11 on the road against the Blues all-time.
THIS DATE IN SABRES HISTORY
- The Sabres are 7-9-4 all-time on January 9.
- January 9, 1977: Andre Savard scores three times in a span of 6:25 in the first period to earn the fourth natural hat trick in franchise history and help the Sabres down the Cleveland Barons 7-4 at the Aud.
- January 9, 2007: Danny Briere, Brian Campbell and Ryan Miller are announced as starters for the 2007 NHL All-Star Game.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
- After earning wins in the last two meetings between these teams, the Sabres are looking for their first win in St. Louis since Dec. 27, 2009.
- With a win tonight, the Sabres would have three straight wins against the Blues for the first time since Oct. 22, 1995 to Nov. 1, 1996.
- Linus Ullmark has stopped 79 of 85 shots (.929) in his three career meetings with the Blues.
- Sam Reinhart has recorded a point in each of his four career games in St. Louis (2+2).
- Jack Eichel has scored three goals in the three games between the Sabres and Blues since the beginning of last season.
- Johan Larsson (2+1), Zemgus Girgensons (1+2), Brandon Montour (0+2) and Zach Bogosian (0+2) all enter tonight’s game with points in each of Buffalo’s last two games against St. Louis. Jimmy Vesey (1+1) has also posted points in both of his last two games against the Blues.
- Henri Jokiharju has recorded three assists in two career visits to St. Louis, including his first two NHL points on Oct. 6, 2018 as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks.
- Rasmus Dahlin’s .63 points per game so far this season represent the best scoring rate by a Sabres defenseman since Brian Campbell (.68) in 2007-08.
WHO’S HOT?
- Marcus Johansson enters tonight’s game on a four-game point streak (1+5), marking his longest streak of the season. A point tonight would give him his longest point streak since he tallied points in five straight games from March 23 to 31, 2017 (1+9).
- Jack Eichel has recorded points in each of Buffalo’s last four games (2+2). His current stretch trails only his run of 18 consecutive games played with a point (Nov. 16 to Dec. 21) for his longest streak this season.
- Conor Sheary has recorded four points (2+2) in Buffalo’s last three games.
- Sam Reinhart has totaled four points (2+2) in the Sabres’ last four contests.
- Linus Ullmark has earned wins in each of his last two starts, stopping 57 of 61 shots faced (.934) against the Edmonton Oilers and Florida Panthers.
WELCOME TO BUFFALO
- Michael Frolik is expected to make his Sabres debut in tonight’s game.
- The Sabres acquired Frolik on Jan. 2 from the Calgary Flames in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Draft.
- The 12-year NHL veteran has scored at least 15 goals in five of the last six seasons, including at least 10 goals at even strength in each of those five seasons.
- Frolik has totaled 19 points (7+12) in 47 career NHL playoff contests, appearing in the postseason six times. He played in all 23 playoff games for the Chicago Blackhawks in 2013, culminating in his first Stanley Cup championship.
- He has represented the Czech Republic in major international tournaments nine times in his career. Most recently, he served as an alternate captain and recorded 14 points (7+7) in 10 games at the 2019 IIHF World Championship.
TAKE ME TO THE PILUT
- The Sabres recalled defenseman Lawrence Pilut from the Rochester Americans on Tuesday. He had totaled seven points (3+4) in his last seven games with the Amerks prior to being recalled.
- Pilut, who was previously recalled for the team’s trip to Sweden for the 2019 NHL Global Series, has yet to appear in an NHL game this season.
- The Tingsryd, Sweden native played in 33 games with the Sabres during his first NHL season in 2018-19 and led all AHL defensemen (min. 5 GP) with .87 points per game after totaling 26 points (4+22) with the Americans last season.
- He has been selected to play in the AHL All-Star Classic in both of his first two AHL seasons (didn’t participate in 2019 due to a recall to Buffalo).
JACK ATTACK
- Entering play Wednesday, Jack Eichel’s 26 goals tied for third among all NHL players and his 55 points tied for eighth in the league.
- Eichel has been selected to represent the Sabres at NHL All-Star Weekend on Jan. 24 and 25 in St. Louis. With his third consecutive All-Star nod, Eichel becomes the seventh player in franchise history to represent the team in at least three NHL All-Star Games, joining Rick Martin (7), Gilbert Perreault (6), Dominik Hasek (5), Mike Ramsey (4), Phil Housley (3) and Alexander Mogilny (3).
- With his 50th point of the season on Dec. 17 at Toronto, Eichel became the first Sabre to reach 50 points in 35 or fewer games since 1992-93 (Pat LaFontaine and Alexander Mogilny). He joins Rick Martin as the only other player in franchise history to record at least 20 goals and 50 points in each of his first five NHL seasons.
- Eichel hasn’t been held without a point in three consecutive appearances since early November. In his 26 games played since then, he has totaled 38 points (19+19), including a stretch of 18 straight games (Nov. 16 to Dec. 21) that tied Gilbert Perreault (Oct. 24 to Dec. 4, 1971) for the most consecutive games played with a point in franchise history.
- The streak was the NHL’s fifth-longest personal point streak in the last decade, trailing only Taylor Hall (26 in 2017-18), Patrick Kane (26 in 2015-16), Sidney Crosby (25 in 2010-11) and Patrick Kane (20 in 2018-19).
SETTING THE PACE
- With 26 goals in 42 games so far this season, Jack Eichel is two goals from tying his previous best total set in the 2018-19 season.
- Eichel’s output through 43 team games currently has him on pace to finish the season with 50 goals and 106 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) and Mogilny (78 in 1992-93) are the only Sabres ever to have recorded more even-strength points in a season than the 73 Eichel is currently on pace for.
- Sam Reinhart’s 14 goals in 43 games put him on pace for a career-high goal total (27).
POINTS IN BUNCHES
- Jack Eichel has recorded 15 multi-point games this season, tying for 11th-most in the NHL before Wednesday’s games.
- Entering play Wednesday, his six multi-goal games tied for second-most in the league and his eight multi-assist games tied for seventh-most.
- Eichel has already recorded at least three points seven times this season, topping his previous career-high total (6) set in the 2016-17 season. Only Connor McDavid (10) and Leon Draisaitl (8) had more games with at least three points this season entering play Wednesday.
- Eichel’s three games with at least four points this season tied for third-most in the league before Wednesday’s games. Since he entered the league in 2015-16, only nine players had totaled at least four points more times than Eichel’s eight: Nikita Kucherov (15), Patrick Kane (12), Connor McDavid (11), Johnny Gaudreau (9), Nathan MacKinnon (0), Brad Marchand (9), Alex Ovechkin (9), Artemi Panarin (9) and Steven Stamkos (9).
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 1/8 games)
- Eichel: 19 EVG (2nd), 26 G (T-3rd), 5 GWG (T-6th), 38 EVP (T-7th), 55 PTS (T-8th)
- Hutton: 2 SO (T-5th)
- Olofsson: 9 PPG (T-3rd)
- Ristolainen: 133 hits (T-10th)
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (133), Girgensons (65), McCabe (60)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (61), Ristolainen (51), Jokiharju (37)
Shots: Eichel (147), Skinner (128), Olofsson (99)
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: 2-1-0 (4), 10/10, 1/9, 7/9
OVERTIME RESULTS (4-6; 124-134 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)
Nov. 27 vs. CGY: L, 3-2 (GWG-Lindholm, 1:17)
Nov. 30 at TOR: L, 2-1 (GWG-Tavares, 1:45)
Dec. 7 at VAN: L, 6-5 (GWG-Miller, 3:21)
Dec. 8 at EDM: W, 3-2 (GWG-Miller, 1:13)
Dec. 14 at NYI: L, 3-2 (GWG-Beauvillier, 3:04)
Jan. 2 vs. EDM: W, 3-2 (GWG-Eichel, 1:09)
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
Conor Sheary … 2 games … 300 career games played
Linus Ullmark … 10 games … 100 career games played
Goals
Kyle Okposo … 9 goals … 200 career goals
Points
Kyle Okposo … 5 points … 500 career points
Zach Bogosian … 7 points … 200 career points
Johan Larsson … 9 points … 100 career points
RECENT MILESTONES
N/A