Sabres Game Preview: 10/27/18 at Columbus

GAME-DAY RESOURCES

Thursday, October 25
Montreal 3 at Buffalo 4


Goals: Pominville (2), Reinhart, Okposo
Goalie: Hutton (19 saves/22 shots)
PP: 2/4; PK: 2/2; Shots: Buffalo 42 – Montreal 22


CURRENT INJURIES
(Man Games Lost: 43)
 Player            (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Matt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 10 games
Sean Malone (knee, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 10 games
Scott Wilson (ankle, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 10 games


TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
N/A


UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Oct. 30: Calgary at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 1: Buffalo at Ottawa, 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 3: Ottawa at Buffalo, 2 p.m.
Sunday, Nov. 4: Buffalo at NY Rangers, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Nov. 8: Buffalo at Montreal, 7:30 p.m.


TONIGHT’S GAME

SABRES at BLUE JACKETS

• This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Blue Jackets this season.
• Last meeting: Columbus defeated Buffalo 3-1 in Buffalo on Jan. 11
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019 in Columbus
• The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games vs. Blue Jackets; 4-6-0 on the road
• This is the 30th game all-time between Buffalo and Columbus; Buffalo has an 11-16-2 series record.
• The Sabres are 4-8-1 on the road against the Blue Jackets all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 13-6-2 all-time on October 27.
• October 27, 1970: Randy Wyrozub records the first two-goal game in franchise history in a 7-2 loss at Vancouver.
• October 27, 1991: Pat LaFontaine plays in his first game as a Sabre, a 4-1 loss at Hartford.
• October 27, 2016: Rasmus Ristolainen appears in his 200th NHL game vs. Minnesota on his 22nd birthday.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• With a 6-4-0 record through 10 games, the Sabres are off to their best start to a season since they matched that record through the first 10 games of the 2011-12 season.
• A win tonight would give the Sabres their first four-game winning streak since Dec. 9 to 15, 2014. Buffalo last won four straight games in regulation when the team won five in a row from March 19 to 27, 2012.
• With a win tonight, the Sabres would guarantee the team’s best points percentage in a month with at least five games since March 2016. If Buffalo gets at least three points from their two remaining games in October, it would be the team’s best month since April 2013.
• Jack Eichel has totaled nine points (3+6) in nine career games against the Blue Jackets.
• Kyle Okposo has recorded nine points (4+5) in his last nine games against Columbus.
• Jeff Skinner has totaled 17 points (9+8) in 23 career games against the Blue Jackets, including 10 points (4+6) in his last 10.

WHO’S HOT?

• With 10 points (5+5) in his last six games, Jeff Skinner has started the season at a point-per-game or better pace through the first 10 games of the season for the fifth time in his career.
• Jake McCabe has recorded five points (1+4) in his last five games, marking the most productive five-game stretch of his career. His 23:04 of ice time on Thursday vs. Montreal was his highest total since Jan. 22 at Calgary (25:20).
• Jack Eichel has recorded nine points (3+6) in his last nine games.
• Jason Pominville enters tonight’s game on a three-game point streak, during which he has totaled six points (3+3) and averaged 17:03 of ice time per game.

60 MINUTES
The Sabres join the Dallas Stars as one of two teams that haven’t played an overtime game yet this season.

• Buffalo’s 10 games are the longest the team has gone without an overtime game to start the season since 2011-12 (12 games).
• The Sabres have had each of their last 23 games settled in regulation, dating back to March 15 vs. Toronto. It’s the team’s longest stretch of games that were not tied after 60 minutes since they played 30 in a row from Nov. 10, 1979 to Jan. 16, 1980.
• The team’s record for consecutive games that were not tied after regulation is 33 games from Nov. 17, 1972 to Feb. 1, 1973.

A FRESH FACE

• On Oct. 4 vs. Boston, Rasmus Dahlin (18 years, 175 days) became the second-youngest player ever to appear in a game with the Sabres, behind only fellow No. 1 pick Pierre Turgeon (18 years, 41 days on Oct. 8, 1987 vs. Minnesota).
• Dahlin skated 22:37 in his debut, marking the highest ice time recorded by a Sabres player making his NHL debut and the 21st-highest ice time by any NHL player in his first game since the league began tracking ice time in the 1997-98 season.
• With his assist on Oct. 11 vs. Colorado, Dahlin became the second-youngest player (18 years, 175 days) in franchise history to record a point, behind only Turgeon (18 years, 44 days on Oct. 11, 1987 vs. Washington).
• Dahlin scored his first NHL goal on Oct. 13 at Arizona, becoming the second-youngest player (18 years, 183 days) in franchise history to score, behind only Turgeon (Oct. 21, 1987 vs. Hartford).
  • He was the youngest defenseman in 23 years to score an NHL goal. His goal came exactly 34 years after Doug Bodger (18 years, 117 days) became the youngest defenseman in the expansion era (since 1967-68) to score his first NHL goal (Oct. 13, 1984).
  • With the goal, he also became the third-youngest defenseman in NHL history to record a game-winner, trailing only Craig Wolanin of the New Jersey Devils (12/9/85 at Minnesota) and Red Garrett of the New York Rangers (12/25/42 at Detroit).

SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 10/26 games)

• Bogosian: 3.2 BkS/GP (3rd)
• Eichel: 42 S (T-4th)
• Hutton: 228 SV (7th)
• Ristolainen: 30 hits (9th), 25:25 TOI/GP (8th)
• Sheary: 3 PPG (T-6th)
• Skinner: plus-8 (T-7th), 5 EVG (T-9th)
• Ullmark: .982 SV% (2nd), 0.50 GAA (2nd), 1 SO (T-3rd)

BUF-CBJ CONNECTIONS


Former Sabres:

• Blue Jackets Head Coach John Tortorella was an assistant coach with the Sabres from 1989 to 1995. Sabres Head Coach Phil Housley was on the Sabres roster for one season (1989-90) during Tortorella’s tenure with the team.

Local Players:

• Blue Jackets D Adam Clendening is a native of Niagara Falls, New York.
• Blue Jackets F Nick Foligno is a native of Buffalo. He is the son of Sabres Hall-of-Famer Mike Foligno and the brother of former Sabre Marcus Foligno.

Nathan Beaulieu:

• Won a bronze medal with Blue Jackets F Boone Jenner and D Ryan Murray for Canada at the 2012 IIHF World Junior Championship.

Zach Bogosian:

• Played for Team USA with Blue Jackets F Nick Foligno at the 2009 IIHF World Championship.

Jack Eichel:

• Was a team captain and won a bronze medal for Team USA with Blue Jackets F Sonny Milano and D Zach Werenski at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.
• Played for Team North America at the 2016 IIHF World Cup of Hockey with Blue Jackets D Seth Jones and D Ryan Murray.

Carter Hutton:

• Played with Blue Jackets D Seth Jones in Nashville.

Jake McCabe:

• Played for Team USA with Blue Jackets F Nick Foligno at the 2016 IIHF World Championship.
• Won a gold medal with Blue Jackets D Seth Jones for Team USA at the 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship. The duo played together again at the 2014 IIHF World Championship.

Kyle Okposo:

• Played for Team USA with Blue Jackets F Cam Atkinson and F Nick Foligno at the 2010 IIHF World Championship.

Davis Payne:

• Was the head coach in St. Louis when Blue Jackets General Manager Jarmo Kekalainen was the assistant general manager, and assistant coach Brad Shaw was on the Blues’ coaching staff.

Sam Reinhart:

• Won a gold medal with Blue Jackets F Anthony Duclair while representing Canada at the 2015 IIHF World Junior Championship.
• Won a gold medal for Team Canada with Blue Jackets F Boone Jenner and D Ryan Murray at the 2016 IIHF World Championship.

Rasmus Ristolainen:

• Represented Finland with Blue Jackets F Markus Hannikainen at both the 2012 and 2013 IIHF World Junior Championships. Blue Jackets G Joonas Korpisalo was also on the 2012 squad.

Conor Sheary:

• Played with Blue Jackets D Adam Clendening in Pittsburgh.

Jeff Skinner:

• Played with Blue Jackets F Riley Nash in Carolina.
• Played for Team Canada with Blue Jackets D Ryan Murray at the 2012 IIHF World Championship.

Tage Thompson:

• Won a bronze medal while representing the United States with Blue Jackets F Cam Atkinson and F Sonny Milano at the 2018 IIHF World Championship.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Hits: Ristolainen (30), Girgensons (16), McCabe (16)
Blocked Shots: Bogosian (16), McCabe (16), Ristolainen (16)
Shots: Eichel (42), Skinner (28), Okposo (25)


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


OVERTIME RESULTS (0-0; 113-121 all-time)
N/A


SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-0; 70-66 all-time)
N/A


MILESTONES APPROACHING (Player … Needs … Milestone)
Games Played:
Jason Pominville … 3 games … 1,000 career games played
Conor Sheary … 6 games … 200 career games played
Remi Elie … 7 games … 100 career games played
Nathan Beaulieu … 9 games … 300 career games played


Goals:
Jason Pominville … 6 goals … 211 goals with Sabres (T-11th in franchise history)


Points:
Jason Pominville … 1 point … 498 points with Sabres (sole possession, 10th in franchise history)
Conor Sheary … 2 points … 100 career points
Jason Pominville … 3 points … 500 points with Sabres (T-9th in franchise history)


RECENT MILESTONES
Jason Pominville … 497th point with Sabres (T-10th in franchise history) … Oct. 25 vs. MTL

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