Game Preview: 10/21/18 at Anaheim

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 36)Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missedMatt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 8 games
Sean Malone (knee, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 8 games
Scott Wilson (ankle, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 8 games
Nathan Beaulieu (undisclosed, Oct. 20) – 1 game

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS10/16: Activated D Zach Bogosian from IR; Assigned D Matt Tennyson to Rochester (AHL)
10/17: Signed F Matej Pekar to a three-year, entry-level contract

UPCOMING GAMESThursday, Oct. 25: Montreal at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 27: Buffalo at Columbus, 7 p.m.
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.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at DUCKS

• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and Ducks this season.
• Last meeting: Anaheim defeated Buffalo 4-3 (OT) in Buffalo on Feb. 6
• Next meeting: Saturday, Dec. 22 in Buffalo
• The Sabres are 3-6-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Ducks; 4-6-0 on the road
• This is the 37th game all-time between Buffalo and Anaheim; Buffalo has an 18-14-4 series record.
• The Sabres are 10-8-0 on the road against the Ducks all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 10-2-4 all-time on October 21.
• October 21, 1988: Sabres acquire Larry Playfair from Los Angeles in exchange for Bob Logan and a ninth-round draft choice in 1989 (Jim Giacin).
• October 21, 1989: Rob Ray scores a goal on his first NHL shot and adds an assist in a 4-2 win at Pittsburgh.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Tonight’s game is the final game of a five-game Pacific Division road trip. Jeff Skinner leads all Sabres with six points (4+2) in the first four games of the trip.
• Buffalo is Anaheim for the second half of a Kings/Ducks back-to-back set for the third consecutive season. The Sabres won the Ducks game in each of the last two seasons.
• With wins in their last two visits to Anaheim, the Sabres are looking for three consecutive road wins against the Ducks for the first time since the team won six straight visits to Anaheim from Jan. 7, 1998 to Oct. 24, 2003.

DUCK HUNTERS

• Kyle Okposo has totaled 10 points (5+5) in 10 career games against Anaheim.
• Jeff Skinner has recorded nine points (5+4) in his last seven games against the Ducks, including at least a point in each of the last five.
• Patrik Berglund has six points in his last eight games against Anaheim, including goals in each of his last two.
• Jack Eichel has five points (2+3) in six career games against the Ducks.
• Sam Reinhart has four points (1+3) in his last four games against Anaheim.

CALIFORNIA LOVEAfter yesterday’s win 5-1 win at Los Angeles, the Sabres have a chance to win their road games against both Los Angeles and Anaheim for the first time since 2011-12. A win or overtime loss tonight would give them points against both teams on the same trip for the first time since they swept their matchups on Oct. 23, 2003 at Los Angeles and Oct. 24, 2003 at Anaheim.
SHUTTING OUT THE DUCKS

• The Sabres have shut out the Ducks seven times in the 36 all-time games between the clubs (Dominik Hasek-3, Martin Biron-2, Chad Johnson-1, Ryan Miller-1).
• This amounts to one shutout for every 5.14 meetings, the Sabres’ highest shutout-to-games ratio against any NHL team. The next highest current ratio is 9.67 games per shutout (Columbus, three shutouts in 29 games).
• The Sabres’ last shutout against the Ducks occurred six meetings ago (Dec. 17, 2015 in Buffalo).

ONE BUFFALO

• The Sabres and the Buffalo Bills are playing on the same day for the first of three times this season after doing so twice last season. The other occurrences are Nov. 4 and Dec. 16.
• The teams have played on the same date 217 times, with both teams winning their respective games on 48 of those days.
• The Sabres are 116-67-34 when playing on a Bills game day and the Bills enter this game 92-123-2 on those dates.
• The last time the Sabres and Bills both won on the same date was Oct. 16, 2016.

BACK-TO-BACKToday’s game wraps up Buffalo’s first of 16 sets of back-to-back games this season, which began with a 5-1 win yesterday at Los Angeles. The Sabres finished last season 5-11-0 in the first game of back-to-back sets and 5-9-2 in the second game. Buffalo’s point breakdown in last season’s back-to-back sets was: four points (1), three points (0), two points (8), one point (2) and zero points (5).
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).

CAPTAIN JACK

• After being named captain on Oct. 3, Jack Eichel became the 19th full-season captain in franchise history and the 28th player to wear the captain’s “C” for at least a one-month period for the Sabres.
• At 21 years of age, Eichel is the youngest captain in Sabres history, passing Jim Schoenfeld, who served as the team’s captain as a 23-year-old in the 1975-76 season.

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

• Eichel: 33 S (5th)
• Hutton: 183 SV (5th)
• Ristolainen: 25:29 TOI/GP (8th)
• Sheary: 3 PPG (T-4th)
• Skinner: plus-7 (T-6th)
• Ullmark: .982 SV% (2nd), 0.50 GAA (2nd), 1 SO (T-2nd)

BUF-ANA CONNECTIONSFormer Sabres:

• Ducks G Ryan Miller was selected in the fifth round (138th overall) by the Sabres in the 1999 NHL Draft and spent the first 12 years of his career playing in the Sabres organization. His 540 games played and 284 wins are the most in franchise history and he ranks second in shutouts with 28. During his time in Buffalo, Miller was named an NHL All Star in 2007 and won the Vezina Trophy in 2010. Miller also played in Buffalo with Sabres General Manager Jason Botterill from 2002 to 2004.

Patrik Berglund:

• Played with Ducks G Ryan Miller in St. Louis.
• Played for Team Sweden with Ducks D Hampus Lindholm at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
• Has played with Ducks F Jakob Silfverberg for Team Sweden on three separate occasions: the 2016 World Cup of Hockey, the 2014 Winter Olympic Games and the 2011 IIHF World Championship. The duo won a silver medal together at both the Olympics and World Championship.

Jason Botterill:

• Played in Calgary when Ducks assistant coach Rich Preston was on the Flames’ coaching staff.
• Was the assistant general manager in Pittsburgh when Ducks F Brian Gibbons played for the Penguins.

Rasmus Dahlin:

• Played with Ducks F Isac Lundestrom for Team Sweden at the 2018 World Junior Championship in Buffalo. The duo won a silver medal together and Dahlin was named the tournament’s top defenseman.

Jack Eichel:

• Played with Ducks G John Gibson for Team North America during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Chris Hajt:

• Played for the Capitals when Ducks Head Coach Randy Carlyle was an assistant coach in Washington.

Phil Housley:

• Played with Ducks Head Coach Randy Carlyle in Winnipeg.
• Played in Calgary when Ducks assistant coach Rich Preston was on the Flames coaching staff.

Johan Larsson:

• Has won two gold medals for Team Sweden with Ducks F Rickard Rakell, the first at the 2012 World Junior Championship and the second at the 2018 IIHF World Championship.
• Played for Team Sweden with Ducks F Jakob Silfverberg at the 2010 World Junior Championship, 2011 IIHF World Championship and 2012 World Championship.

Jake McCabe:

• Won a gold medal with Ducks G John Gibson for Team USA at the 2013 World Junior Championship. Both players were named to the tournament’s All-Star Team and Gibson earned Most Valuable Player honors.

Kyle Okposo:

• Played with Ducks D Cam Fowler for Team USA at the 2012 IIHF World Championship.

Davis Payne:

• Was an assistant coach in Los Angeles when Ducks D Luke Schenn was playing for the Kings.

Steve Smith:

• Was on the coaching staff and later on the team’s roster in Calgary while Ducks assistant coach Rich Preston was one of the Flames’ assistant coaches.
• Played in Chicago when Ducks General Manager Bob Murray was a part of the front office and assistant coach Rich Preston was on the Blackhawks coaching staff.
• Was an assistant coach in Edmonton when Ducks F Andrew Cogliano was playing for the Oilers.

Vladimir Sobotka:

• Played with Ducks G Ryan Miller in St. Louis.
• Represented the Czech Republic with Ducks D Andrej Sustr at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Tage Thompson:

• Played for Team USA with Ducks F Troy Terry at the 2017 World Junior Championship in Canada. The duo won a gold medal together, with Terry scoring the medal-clinching goal in the shootout to defeat Team Canada.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERSHits: Ristolainen (22), Girgensons (15), Berglund (14)
Blocked Shots: Ristolainen (14), Bogosian (13), McCabe (12)
Shots: Eichel (33), Skinner (20), Okposo (19)
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK]1-10: 4-4-0 (8), 18/23, 4/30, 18/26
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 PlayedJason Pominville … 5 games … 1,000 career games played
Remi Elie … 7 games … 100 career games played
GoalsJason Pominville … 8 goals … 211 goals with Sabres (T-11th in franchise history)
PointsConor Sheary … 3 points … 100 career points
Jason Pominville … 3 points … 497 points with Sabres (T-10th in franchise history)
RECENT MILESTONESPatrik Berglund … 700th NHL game … Oct. 16 at VGK
Jason Pominville … 700th NHL point … Oct. 20 at LAK

from Sabres Digital Press Box via IFTTT