Sabres Game Preview: 11/21/18 vs. Philadelphia

• This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Flyers this season.
• Last meeting: Philadelphia defeated Buffalo 4-1 in Philadelphia on Jan. 7
• Next meeting: Saturday, Dec. 8 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Flyers; 5-4-1 at home
• This is the 177th game all-time between Buffalo and Philadelphia; Buffalo has a 68-84-24 series record.
• The Sabres are 43-33-10 at home against the Flyers all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 8-13-1 all-time on November 21.
• November 21, 1981: Jim Schoenfeld and Yvon Lambert each score two goals and Don Edwards makes 28 saves in a 7-1 Sabres victory at Los Angeles.
• November 21, 2003: Mika Noronen stops 35 Carolina shots to earn his third career shutout in a 5-0 win against the Hurricanes.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• The Sabres are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games. It’s Buffalo’s best 10-game stretch since the team posted a 7-1-2 record from March 10 to 30, 2012.
• Jack Eichel has recorded two points in each of his last two games and entered play Tuesday tied for the league lead with nine multi-point games this season. Eichel’s nine multi-point games through 21 games leave him just nine shy of his career-high 18 in a season.
• Carter Hutton is 3-0-0 in his career against the Flyers with a .921 save percentage and a 1.95 goals-against average.
• Jack Eichel has seven points (5+2) in his last seven games against Philadelphia, including six (5+1) in four home games.
• Conor Sheary has recorded at least a point in each of his last three games against the Flyers, totaling four points (3+1) in those games.
• Linus Ullmark recorded his first career win against the Flyers on Oct. 30, 2015 in Buffalo after stopping 27 of 28 Philadelphia shots.

GOING STREAKING

• The Sabres enter tonight’s game on their first six-game winning streak in a single season since Dec. 27, 2009 to Jan. 8, 2010. It is the longest streak in the NHL this season.
• A win today would give Buffalo its first seven-game winning streak since the team won its first 10 games of the 2006-07 season.
• With a win or overtime loss tonight, the Sabres would have points in seven straight games for the first time since they had points in nine straight games (7-0-2) from March 10 to 27, 2012.

HOME COOKING

• Buffalo enters tonight’s game with a 6-2-1 (.722) record at home this season, putting the team on pace for its best home record since the 1982-83 season (25-7-8, .725). Entering play Tuesday, that record ranked as the fifth-best home record in the NHL.
• With 13 points through eight home games, the team has already clinched its best 10-game start to the home schedule since they began the 2009-10 season with a 7-2-1 record in their first 10 home games.
• The Sabres have gone 4-0-1 their last five home games. A point tonight would give the Sabres points in six consecutive home games for the first time since they earned points in seven straight from Jan. 7 to Feb. 7, 2017 (6-0-1).

SCORING EARLY IS GREAT…

• The Sabres are 8-0-2 when scoring first so far this season. Entering play Tuesday, they were one of four teams who have earned at least a point in every game in which they’ve opened the scoring in 2018-19.
  • Their current win percentage when scoring first (.800) is the team’s best since the 2005-06 season (36-5-4, .800).
• Buffalo is 7-0-2 when leading after the first period. Entering play Tuesday, they were one of five teams who have earned at least a point in every game in which they’ve led after 20 minutes in 2018-19.
  • Their current win percentage when leading after one (.778) is the team’s best since the 2009-10 season (21-4-2, .778).

…BUT SCORING LATE IS NICE TOO

• The Sabres are 5-6-1 when trailing after two periods. Their five wins when trailing after 40 minutes ranked as the second-most in the league entering play Tuesday.
• Buffalo’s current win percentage when trailing after two periods is .417. The franchise record for best win percentage when trailing after two periods is currently the team’s .286 mark (7-19-0) from the 1983-84 season.

NOT TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT

The Sabres are 7-0-2 in one-goal games so far this season. The team last won more than half of its one-goal games in a season in 2011-12 (21-9-11). The team’s current .777 winning percentage in one-goal games would top the franchise record of .714 (10-4-0) set in the 1977-78 season.


THA CARTER V
Carter Hutton is 5-0-0 with a .936 save percentage and a 1.99 goals-against average in his last five games. The five-game winning streak ties his longest career winning streak, matching his five-game streak from March 21, 2014 at Calgary to April 13, 2014 at Minnesota.


KILLING IT

• Buffalo is 18-for-19 on the penalty kill in the team’s last eight games dating back to Nov. 3 vs. Ottawa. During this eight-game stretch, the Sabres’ goaltenders have turned aside 23 shots on the power play and the team has killed off 30:38 of power-play time.
  • This stretch has improved the team to 33-for-36 (91.7%) in their last 13 games dating back to Oct. 21 at Anaheim, the third-best mark in the NHL during that span before Tuesday’s games.
• On the season, the Sabres have killed off 51 of the team’s 62 shorthanded situations (82.3%), ranking them sixth in the league entering play Tuesday.

WHAT’S THE SKINNY?

• With 14 goals through Buffalo’s first 21 games, Jeff Skinner entered play Tuesday trailing only David Pastrnak (17 goals) and Alex Ovechkin (15 goals) for most in the NHL this season.
• With his 10th goal in the team’s 16th game of the season on Nov. 8 at Montreal, Skinner reached the 10-goal mark quicker than any Sabres player since Thomas Vanek (10 games) in 2012-13.

WINNING WAYS
Sam Reinhart has recorded eight points (1+7) in his last eight games, including three two-point games during that stretch. The Sabres are 10-0-0 this season when Reinhart records at least one point and 24-2-3 (.879) in his career when he records at least two.


SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 11/20 games)

• Buffalo Sabres: 13 W (4th), 28 PTS (4th), 82.3 PK% (6th), 681 S (9th)
• Eichel: 86 S (4th), 19 EVP (T-4th), 19 A (T-5th), 1 OTG (T-8th)
• Hutton: 9 W (T-2nd), 442 SV (7th)
• Ristolainen: 72 hits (3rd), 1 OTG (T-8th), 25:21 TOI/GP (9th)
• Skinner: 11 EVG (T-1st), 14 G (T-3rd), plus-12 (T-3rd)
• Ullmark: 1 SO (T-7th)

BUF-PHI CONNECTIONS
Nathan Beaulieu:

• Played with Flyers F Dale Weise in Montreal.

Patrik Berglund:

• Played with Flyers G Brian Elliott and F Jori Lehtera in St. Louis.

Jason Botterill:

• Played with Flyers assistant coach Gord Murphy in Atlanta.

Jack Eichel:

• Played for Team North America with Flyers F Sean Couturier at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Phil Housley:

• Played with Flyers assistant coach Ian Laperriere in St. Louis.
• Coached Flyers D Shayne Gostisbehere to a gold medal at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Carter Hutton:

• Played with Flyers G Brian Elliott in St. Louis.

Jake McCabe:

• Won a gold medal for the United States with Flyers D Shayne Gostisbehere at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Kyle Okposo:

• Played for the Islanders with Flyers D Andrew MacDonald.
• Played for Team USA with Flyers F James van Riemsdyk at the 2007 and 2008 IIHF World Junior Championships. The duo won a bronze medal together in 2007.

Davis Payne:

• Was an assistant coach in Los Angeles when Flyers General Manager Ron Hextall was the Kings’ assistant general manager and Flyers goaltending coach Kim Dillabaugh was the goaltending development coach.
• Was the Blues’ head coach when Flyers G Brian Elliott was playing in St. Louis.

Jason Pominville:

• Played with Flyers D Christian Folin in Minnesota.

Sam Reinhart:

• Won a gold medal for Canada with Flyers G Calvin Pickard at the 2016 IIHF World Championship.

Rasmus Ristolainen:

• Represented Finland with Flyers F Jori Lehtera at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Marco Scandella:

• Played with Flyers D Christian Folin in Minnesota.

Jeff Skinner:

• Won a silver medal for Team Canada with Flyers F Sean Couturier, F Claude Giroux, G Calvin Pickard and F Wayne Simmonds at the 2017 IIHF World Championship. Skinner, Giroux and Simmonds previously played together at the 2013 IIHF World Championship.

Vladimir Sobotka:

• Played with Flyers G Brian Elliott and F Jori Lehtera in St. Louis.
• Has represented the Czech Republic with Flyers F Jakub Voracek on three separate occasions: at the 2007 IIHF World Junior Championship, at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey and 2017 IIHF World Championship.
• Played for the Czech Republic National Team with Flyers D Radko Gudas at the 2017 IIHF World Championship.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (72), McCabe (34), Girgensons (31)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (36), Ristolainen (34), Bogosian (29)
Shots: Eichel (86), Skinner (69), Okposo/Pominville (49)


SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK]
1-10: 6-4-0 (12), 26/28, 8/38, 22/30
11-20: 6-2-2 (14), 35/27, 4/28, 26/29
21-30: 1-0-0 (2), 5/4, 0/3, 3/3


OVERTIME RESULTS (2-2; 115-123 all-time)
Oct. 27 at CBJ: L, 5-4 (GWG-Panarin, 0:31)
Oct. 30 vs. CGY: L, 2-1 (GWG-Gaudreau, 2:40)
Nov. 8 at MTL: W, 6-5 (GWG-Ristolainen, 1:38)Nov. 19 at PIT: W, 5-4 (GWG-Eichel, 0:45)


SHOOTOUT RESULTS (2-0; 72-66 all-time)
Nov. 10 vs. VAN: W, 4-3 (GDG-Mittelstadt)Nov. 16 at WPG: W, 2-1 (GDG-Sheary)


MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played:
Jason Pominville … 1 game … 682 games played with Sabres (sole possession, 9th in franchise history)
Nathan Beaulieu … 4 games … 300 career games played
Evan Rodrigues … 5 games … 100 career games played
Remi Elie … 6 games … 100 career games played


Goals:Jason Pominville … 1 goal … 211 goals with Sabres (T-11th in franchise history)


Assists:Kyle Okposo … 7 assists … 300 career assists


Points:Jason Pominville … 4 points … 511 points with Sabres (T-8th in franchise history)


RECENT MILESTONES
Jeff Skinner … 400th NHL point … Nov. 16 at WPG
Jeff Skinner … 600th NHL game … Nov. 19 at PIT
Jason Pominville … 681st game with Sabres (T-9th in franchise history) … Nov. 19 at PIT
Jack Eichel … 200th NHL point … Nov. 19 at PIT

from Sabres Digital Press Box via IFTTT