Buffalo Sabres game preview: 11/29/18 at Tampa Bay

LAST GAMEThursday, November 27
San Jose 2 at Buffalo 3 (OT)
Goals: Ristolainen, Beaulieu, Skinner
Goalie: Hutton (36 saves/38 shots)
PP: 0/1; PK: 2/3; Shots: San Jose 38 – Buffalo 31
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 86)Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missedMatt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 25 games
Scott Wilson (ankle, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 25 games
Patrik Berglund (upper body, Nov. 21; injured reserve) – 4 games
Conor Sheary (upper body, Nov. 27) – 1 game
Marco Scandella (undisclosed, Nov. 27) – 1 game
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS11/23: Assigned D Lawrence Pilut to Rochester (AHL)
11/27: Recalled D Lawrence Pilut from Rochester (AHL)
UPCOMING GAMESFriday, Nov. 30: Buffalo at Florida, 7 p.m.
Monday, Dec. 3: Buffalo at Nashville, 8 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 4: Toronto at Buffalo, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 8: Philadelphia at Buffalo, 1 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 11: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAMESABRES at LIGHTNING

• This is the second of four meetings between the Sabres and Lightning this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Tampa Bay 2-1 in Buffalo on Nov. 13
• Next meeting: Saturday, Jan. 12 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 4-5-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Lightning; 3-7-0 on the road
• This is the 100th game all-time between Buffalo and Tampa Bay; Buffalo has a 55-36-8 series record.
• The Sabres are 29-18-3 on the road against the Lightning all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 13-11-0 all-time on November 29.
• November 29, 1981: Lindy Ruff records his first-career hat trick in a 5-2 win at home against the Islanders.
• November 29, 1993: Dominik Hasek picks up his first shutout as a member of the Sabres, stopping all 24 Toronto shots in a 3-0 win at Maple Leaf Gardens.
• November 29, 1998: A two-goal night from Michael Peca leads the Sabres to a 6-3 victory over the Lightning in Tampa.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Two Sabres have a chance to appear in milestone games tonight: Nathan Beaulieu (300th game) and Evan Rodrigues (100th game).
• Buffalo is seeking its first six-game road winning streak in the same season since the team won its first 10 road games of the 2006-07 season. Since then, the Sabres have twice won at least six consecutive road games spanning two seasons: 2009 (7-0-0) and 2011 (6-0-0).
• Entering tonight’s game, the Sabres have wins in five straight games against divisional opponents for the first time since they won seven in a row against Northeast Division opponents from Dec. 15, 2010 to Feb. 15, 2011.
• Jeff Skinner’s 11 goals in 13 road games trailed only Patrik Laine (15) for most in the league before Wednesday’s games. With 19 goals through Buffalo’s first 25 games, Skinner entered play Wednesday tied with Laine and David Pastrnak for most in the NHL this season.
• Kyle Okposo has recorded a point in each of his last three games against the Lightning (2+1).

GOING STREAKING

• The Sabres enter tonight’s game on their first 10-game winning streak since the team won its first 10 games of the 2006-07 season. With a win tonight, they would top the franchise record for most consecutive wins, set in January 1984 and tied during that October 2006 stretch.
• In addition to the three official 10-game winning streaks, the Sabres have twice won at least 10 consecutive regular-season games during streaks that spanned two seasons: 15 games (April 8 to Oct. 26, 2006) and 11 games (April 1 to Oct. 26, 1975).
• With a win or overtime loss tonight, the Sabres would have points in 11 straight games for the first time since Dec. 26 to Jan. 18, 2010 (8-0-3).

SCORING EARLY IS GREAT…

• The Sabres are 12-0-2 when scoring first so far this season. Entering play Wednesday, they were one of three teams who have earned at least a point in every game in which they’ve opened the scoring in 2018-19.
• Buffalo is 10-0-2 when leading after the first period. Entering play Wednesday, 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.

…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 Wednesday.
• Buffalo’s five wins when trailing after two have already matched last season’s total and leave the team four third-period comebacks shy of the franchise record of nine set in the 2005-06 season.

NOT TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORTThe Sabres are 10-0-2 in one-goal games so far this season. Buffalo last won more than half of its one-goal games in a season in 2011-12 (21-9-11). The team’s current .833 winning percentage in one-goal games would top the franchise record of .714 (10-4-0) set in the 1977-78 season.
MR. CARTER

• Carter Hutton is 8-0-0 with a .936 save percentage and a 1.97 goals-against average in his last eight games.
• The eight-game winning streak tops his previous high, a five-game streak from March 21, 2014 at Calgary to April 13, 2014 at Minnesota. It’s the longest winning streak by a Sabres goaltender since Ryan Miller’s eight-game streak from Oct. 8 to 30, 2009.
• Entering play Wednesday, Hutton’s 12 wins trailed only Frederik Andersen and Marc-Andre Fleury (13 wins each) for most in the NHL.

DYNAMIC DUOJack Eichel and Jeff Skinner are currently on pace to shatter their personal bests in points and make a mark in the Sabres’ record books on the strength of career-best production at even strength that ranks them among the best even-strength players in the league this season.

• If he maintains his current pace, Eichel would finish the season with the fourth-most even-strength points ever recorded by a Sabre (69), trailing only Pat LaFontaine (83) and Alexander Mogilny (78) in 1992-93, and Gilbert Perreault in 1975-76 (70). He would become the first Sabre to record more than 90 points since Daniel Briere (95) in 2006-07.
• Skinner is currently on pace for the second-highest goal total (62) in Sabres history, trailing only Mogilny in 1992-93 (76). His 46 even-strength goals would finish behind only Mogilny’s even-strength total from that season (49) for most in team history.

WINNING WAYSSam Reinhart has recorded 11 points (2+9) in his last 12 games, including four two-point games during that stretch. The Sabres are 12-0-0 this season when Reinhart records at least one point and 25-2-3 (.883) in his career when he records at least two.
BACK-TO-BACKTonight’s game opens up Buffalo’s fifth of 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, which continues tomorrow night at Florida. The Sabres are 4-0-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 3-1-0 in the second game so far this season. Buffalo’s point breakdown in their previous back-to-back sets is: four points (3), three points (0), two points (1), one point (0) and zero points (0).
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 11/28 games)

• Buffalo Sabres: 36 PTS (1st), 17 W (T-1st), 81.9 PK% (8th)
• Eichel: 103 S (T-3rd), 23 A (5th), 21 EVP (T-7th)
• Hutton: 12 W (3rd), 532 SV (6th)
• Ristolainen: 82 hits (5th), 25:16 TOI/GP (10th)
• Skinner: 14 EVG (1st), 19 G (T-1st), 2 OTG (T-1st), plus-15 (T-4th), 3 GWG (T-4th), 5 PPG (T-7th)
• Ullmark: 1 SO (T-9th)

BUF-TBL CONNECTIONSNathan Beaulieu:

• Played with Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern and D Mikhail Sergachev in Montreal.

Patrik Berglund:

• Won a silver medal with Lightning D Victor Hedman at the 2008 IIHF World Junior Championship. The duo played together again at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
• Has represented Sweden in international play with Lightning D Anton Stralman twice: at the 2009 IIHF World Championship, where they won a bronze medal, and at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Jason Botterill:

• Played with Lightning assistant general manager Pat Verbeek in Dallas.
• Was a scout for the Stars when Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern played in Dallas.

Jack Eichel:

• Played for Team North America with Lightning F J.T. Miller at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Chris Hajt:

• Played with Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern in Washington.

Phil Housley:

• Coached Lightning F J.T. Miller at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship, winning a gold medal together for the United States.

Johan Larsson:

• Represented Sweden with Lightning D Victor Hedman at the 2012 IIHF World Championship.

Jake McCabe:

• Played for Team USA with Lightning F Tyler Johnson at the 2014 IIHF World Championship.
• Won a gold medal with Lightning F J.T. Miller at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Jason Pominville:

• Played for Team USA with Lightning assistant coach Jeff Halpern at the 2008 IIHF World Championship.

Sam Reinhart:

• Won a gold medal for Canada with Lightning F Brayden Point at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.
• Played under Lightning Head Coach Jon Cooper for Team Canada at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, winning a bronze medal.

Marco Scandella:

• Played in Minnesota when Lightning assistant coach Todd Richards was the head coach of the Wild.

Jeff Skinner:

• Played for Team Canada with Lightning F Steven Stamkos at the 2013 IIHF World Championship.
• Won a silver medal for Canada with Lightning F Brayden Point at the 2017 IIHF World Championship.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERSHits: Ristolainen (82), McCabe (42), Girgensons (37)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (43), Bogosian (36), Ristolainen (36)
Shots: Eichel (103), Skinner (81), Ristolainen (60)
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: 5-0-0 (10), 19/12, 4/15, 11/13
OVERTIME RESULTS (4-2; 117-123 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)Nov. 23 vs. MTL: W, 3-2 (GWG-Skinner, 3:06)Nov. 27 vs. SJS: W, 3-2 (GWG-Skinner, 1:41)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (3-0; 73-66 all-time)Nov. 10 vs. VAN: W, 4-3 (GDG-Mittelstadt)Nov. 16 at WPG: W, 2-1 (GDG-Sheary)Nov. 24 at DET: W, 3-2 (GDG-Reinhart)
MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)Games PlayedNathan Beaulieu … 1 game … 300 career games played
Evan Rodrigues … 1 game … 100 career games played
Remi Elie … 4 games … 100 career games played
Kyle Okposo … 5 games … 700 career games played
GoalsJason Pominville … 1 goal … 211 goals with Sabres (T-11th in franchise history)
AssistsKyle Okposo … 5 assists … 300 career assists
PointsJason Pominville … 3 points … 511 points with Sabres (T-8th in franchise history)
RECENT MILESTONESN/A

from Sabres Digital Press Box via IFTTT