Sabres game preview: 11/27/18 vs. San Jose

CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 81)Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missedMatt Hunwick (neck, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 24 games
Scott Wilson (ankle, Oct. 4; injured reserve) – 24 games
Patrik Berglund (upper body, Oct. 21; injured reserve) – 3 games

TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS11/21: Recalled D Lawrence Pilut from Rochester (AHL); Placed F Patrik Berglund on IR
11/23: Assigned D Lawrence Pilut to Rochester (AHL)

UPCOMING GAMESThursday, Nov. 29: Buffalo at Tampa Bay, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, 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.

TONIGHT’S GAME
SHARKS at SABRES

• This is the second and final meeting between the Sabres and Sharks this season.
• Last meeting: San Jose defeated Buffalo 5-1 in San Jose on Oct. 18
• The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games vs. the Sharks; 7-2-1 at home
• This is the 41st game all-time between Buffalo and San Jose; Buffalo has a 24-10-6 series record.
• The Sabres are 17-2-1 at home against the Sharks all-time.

THIS DAY IN SABRES HISTORY

• The Sabres are 11-6-5 all-time on November 27.
• November 27, 1971: Craig Ramsay appears in his first NHL game, a 5-2 loss at Vancouver. Ramsay would go on to play 1,070 games during the course of his NHL career, all with the Sabres, trailing only Gilbert Perreault (1,191) for most in franchise history.
• November 27, 2005: Jason Pominville scores his first career NHL goal on Olaf Kolzig in a 3-2 win at Washington.

THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW

• Buffalo is 24-for-26 (92.3%) on the penalty kill in the team’s last 11 games dating back to Nov. 3 vs. Ottawa.
• The Sabres are looking to avoid losing five straight games to the Sharks after having gone 10-0-1 in the previous 11 matchups between the teams.
• Carter Hutton is 4-2-1 in his career against the Sharks with a .945 save percentage and a 1.71 goals-against average.
• Kyle Okposo has 14 points (5+9) in 13 career games against San Jose.
• Jack Eichel has six points (1+5) in his last five games against the Sharks.
• Jeff Skinner has nine points (3+6) in his last nine games against San Jose.
• Jason Pominville has five points (3+2) in his last five games against San Jose.

GOING STREAKING

• The Sabres enter tonight’s game on their first nine-game winning streak since the team won its first 10 games of the 2006-07 season. A win tonight would match the franchise record, set in January 1984 and tied during that October 2006 stretch.
• In addition to the two 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 10 straight games for the first time since they recorded points in 11 straight from Dec. 26 to Jan. 18, 2010 (8-0-3).

HOME COOKING

• Buffalo enters tonight’s game with an 8-2-1 (.773) record at home this season, putting the team on pace for its best home record since the 1979-80 season (27-5-8, .775). Their record ties as the second-best home record in the NHL behind only Boston (8-2-0) entering play Monday.
• The Sabres have won each of their last five home games. It’s their first five-game home winning streak since they won seven in a row from Nov. 28 to Dec. 15, 2014.
• The team has gone 6-0-1 in its last seven home games. A point tonight would give the Sabres points in eight consecutive home games for the first time since Dec. 10, 2013 to Jan. 9, 2014 (6-0-2).

SCORING EARLY IS GREAT…

• The Sabres are 11-0-2 when scoring first so far this season. Entering play Monday, 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.
• Buffalo is 10-0-2 when leading after the first period. Entering play Monday, 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 Monday.
• 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 COMFORT
The Sabres are 9-0-2 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 .818 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 7-0-0 with a .934 save percentage and a 1.98 goals-against average in his last seven games.
• The seven-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 Monday, Hutton’s 11 wins trailed only Frederik Andersen and Marc-Andre Fleury (12 wins each) for most in the NHL.

DYNAMIC DUO

• Jack 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 third-most even-strength points ever recorded by a Sabre (72), trailing only Pat LaFontaine (83) and Alexander Mogilny (78) in 1992-93. He would become the first Sabre to record more than 95 points since LaFontaine (148) and Mogilny (127) that same season.
• Skinner is currently on pace for the second-highest goal total (62) in Sabres history, trailing only Mogilny in 1992-93 (76). His 44 even-strength goals would finish behind only Mogilny’s even-strength total from that season (49) for most in team history.

WINNING WAYS
Sam Reinhart has recorded 10 points (2+8) in his last 11 games, including four two-point games during that stretch. The Sabres are 11-0-0 this season when Reinhart records at least one point and 25-2-3 (.883) in his career when he records at least two.
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 11/26 games)

• Buffalo Sabres: 34 PTS (3rd), 16 W (T-3rd), 82.6 PK% (5th)
• Eichel: 99 S (T-2nd), 23 A (T-3rd), 21 EVP (T-4th), 1 OTG (T-9th), 28 P (T-9th)
• Hutton: 11 W (3rd), 496 SV (7th)
• Ristolainen: 79 hits (5th), 25:25 TOI/GP (8th), 1 OTG (T-9th)
• Skinner: 13 EVG (1st), 18 G (2nd), plus-13 (T-7th), 5 PPG (T-7th)
• Ullmark: 1 SO (T-8th)

BUF-SJS CONNECTIONS
Former Sabres:

• Sharks assistant coach Dave Barr was on the coaching staff in Buffalo during the 2015-16 season.
• Sharks F Evander Kane played for the Sabres for parts of four seasons (2014-2018). He played in 196 games for the club, recording 118 points (68+50).

Zach Bogosian:

• Played with Sharks F and former Sabre Evander Kane in Atlanta and Winnipeg.
• Played with Sharks goaltending coach Johan Hedberg in Atlanta.

Jack Eichel:

• Sharks head coach Peter DeBoer was an assistant coach for Team North America when Eichel played for the team during the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.

Davis Payne:

• Was an assistant coach for the Kings when Sharks G Martin Jones was playing in Los Angeles.

Marco Scandella:

• Played with Sharks D Brent Burns in Minnesota. Sharks assistant coach Dave Barr was on the Wild’s coaching staff when Scandella was on the team.

SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERSHits: Ristolainen (79), McCabe (41), Girgensons (36)
Blocked Shots: McCabe (42), Ristolainen (36), Bogosian (32)
Shots: Eichel (99), Skinner (80), Ristolainen (56)
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: 4-0-0 (8), 16/10, 4/14, 9/10
OVERTIME RESULTS (3-2; 116-123 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)
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 … 2 games … 300 career games played
Evan Rodrigues … 2 games … 100 career games played
Remi Elie … 5 games … 100 career games played
Kyle Okposo … 6 games … 700 career games playedGoalsJason Pominville … 1 goal … 211 goals with Sabres (T-11th in franchise history)
AssistsKyle Okposo … 6 assists … 300 career assists
PointsJason Pominville … 3 points … 511 points with Sabres (T-8th in franchise history)
RECENT MILESTONESJason Pominville … 682nd game played with Sabres (9th in franchise history) … Nov. 21 vs. PHI

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