BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Wednesday, Nov. 16
Buffalo 1 at Ottawa 4
Goal: Thompson
Goalie: Comrie (22 saves/24 shots), Anderson (14 saves/15 shots, 1 ENG)
PP: 1/8; PK: 4/5; Shots: Ottawa 40 – Buffalo 30
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 36)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Mattias Samuelsson (Lower body, Oct. 25; IR) – 11 games
Kyle Okposo (Lower body, Nov. 12; IR) – 3 games
Jack Quinn (Undisclosed, Nov. 15) – 2 games
Eric Comrie (Lower body, Nov. 19; IR) – 0 games
Zemgus Girgensons (Undisclosed) – 0 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/13: Assigned D Kale Clague to Rochester (AHL)
11/15: Recalled F Anders Bjork and F Riley Sheahan from Rochester (AHL); Activated D Henri Jokiharju from IR; Placed F Kyle Okposo on IR
11/17: Recalled G Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen from Rochester (AHL)
UPCOMING GAMES
Tuesday, Nov. 22: Buffalo at Montreal, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 23: St. Louis at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Friday, Nov. 25: New Jersey at Buffalo, 8 p.m.
Monday, Nov. 28: Tampa Bay at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Wednesday, Nov. 30: Buffalo at Detroit, 7 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SABRES at MAPLE LEAFS
• This is the first of three meetings between the Sabres and Maple Leafs this season.
• Last meeting: Buffalo defeated Toronto 5-2 in Toronto on April 12, 2022.
• Next meeting: Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2023 in Buffalo.
• The Sabres are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games against the Maple Leafs; 4-5-1 on the road.
• This is the 223rd game all-time between Buffalo and Toronto; Buffalo has a 120-74-28 series record.
• The Sabres are 47-44-19 on the road against the Maple Leafs all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Buffalo has defeated Toronto in the last three matchups between the two teams by a combined score of 15-5.
• A win tonight would give the Sabres four straight wins over the Maple Leafs for the first time since Buffalo defeated Toronto in 10 straight meetings from Jan. 1, 2009 to Jan. 8, 2010.
• Tage Thompson has tallied 19 points (11+8) in his last 10 games.
• Thompson has recorded eight points (5+3) in his last six games and is riding a six-game point streak.
• A point in tonight’s game would extend his point streak to seven games, which would be the longest such streak of his career.
• Thompson has tallied at least one point in each of his last four games against the Maple Leafs.
• Jeff Skinner has recorded six points (4+2) in his last four games against Toronto.
• Rasmus Dahlin owns 10 points (3+7) in 10 career games against the Maple Leafs.
• Alex Tuch (0+3) and Dylan Cozens (0+3) have each notched three assists in their last three games against Toronto.
• Tuch has recorded four points (1+3) in his last two games and a point in tonight’s game would give him a three-game point streak.
• Craig Anderson has a record of 20-9-4 in 36 career games against the Maple Leafs.
• Anderson owns a save percentage of .919 and a goals-against average of 2.80 against Toronto.
THE GOLDEN TAGE
• Entering play Friday and dating back to Oct. 29, Tage Thompson ranked first in the NHL in goals (11) and he was tied for first in points (19).
• Thompson leads all Sabres skaters in goals (12), points (22), points per game (1.29), shots (75) and power-play goals (5).
• Thompson is also tied for the team lead in even-strength points (12), power-play points (9) and shorthanded goals (1).
• Thompson ranks second among all Sabres forwards in time on ice per game (18:12), trailing just Alex Tuch (18:27).
• According to Natural Stat Trick, Thompson leads all Sabres skaters in high-danger scoring chances for (34).
• Entering play Friday, Thompson was the only player in the NHL who had taken at least 70 shots and recorded a shooting percentage higher than 13.0 (16.0).
I’VE GOT THE POWER
• Entering play Friday, Owen Power was tied for second among rookie defensemen in points (8) and even-strength points (6).
• Entering play Friday, Power led all rookie skaters in time on ice per game (23:53), with the next closest rookie at 20:45 (Kaiden Guhle).
• Through Buffalo’s first 17 games, Power has recorded multiple points on three separate occasions (Oct. 20, 0+2; Nov. 2, 0+2; Nov. 5, 0+2), tied with Guhle for the most among rookie skaters in 2022-23 entering play Friday.
• Entering play Friday, Power was tied for fifth among all NHL defensemen in primary assists (7).
MR. DAHLIN’S HOLIDAY
• Entering play Friday, among NHL defensemen, Rasmus Dahlin was ranked second in goals (7), third in points per game (1.19), third in points (19), first in power-play goals (4), second in power-play points (9), third in time on ice per game (26:31) and fourth in shots (62).
• According to Natural Stat Trick, Dahlin (11) is one of two NHL defensemen who had recorded 10 or more high-danger scoring chances entering play Friday.
• Through his first 16 games, Dahlin has only failed to record a point on two occasions (Oct. 27 vs. Montreal, Nov. 12 vs. Boston).
• Dahlin (424:19) and Owen Power (405:56) are the only two Sabres skaters who have logged 400 or more minutes of ice time through the team’s first 17 games.
• Entering play Friday, only 20 total skaters in the NHL have skated 400 minutes or more.
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings entering play on Nov. 18)
• Buffalo Sabres: 60 GF (T-8th), 3.53 GF/GP (T-7th)
• Rasmus Asplund: 1 SHG (T-5th)
• Rasmus Dahlin: 26:31 TOI/GP (3rd)
• Casey Mittelstadt: 1 SHG (T-5th)
• Victor Olofsson: 1 OTG (T-3rd)
• Tage Thompson: 12 G (T-3rd), 22 P (T-9th), 5 PPG (T-6th), 1 SHG (T-5th), 75 S (7th)
• Alex Tuch: 3 GWG (T-1st)
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Thompson (75), Dahlin (62), Skinner (48)
Hits: Lyubushkin (25), Dahlin (22), Cozens (17)
Blocked Shots: Dahlin (34), Bryson (27), Power (22)
SABRES’ RECORD IN 10 GAME SEGMENTS [W-L-OTL (PTS), GF/GA, PP, PK]
1-10: 7-3-0 (14), 43/28, 9/38, 25/32
11-20: 0-7-0 (0), 17/33, 6/29, 14/21
OVERTIME RESULTS (1-0; 131-146 all-time)
Oct. 29 vs. CHI: W, 4-3 (GWG-Olofsson)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (0-0; 84-77 all-time)
N/A
TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS NOTES:
LAST GAME
Score: Toronto 2 vs. New Jersey 3 – OTL
Date: Thursday, November 17, 2022
TOR Goals: Matthews (PP), Nylander
NJD Goals: Bratt, Hischier, Sharangovich (OTW)
TOR Goaltender: Murray, 30/33, .909 SV%
NJD Goaltender: Vanecek, 25/27, .926 SV%
TOR Power Play: 1-for-5
TOR Penalty Kill: 2-for-2
Player Notes:
- Auston Matthews scored on a Toronto power play opportunity at 15:15 of the first period and recorded the primary assist on Nylander’s goal. Matthews has posted five points (2G, 3A) through his last three games. Matthews recorded his fifth multi-point game of the season.
- William Nylander scored for Toronto at 17:51 of the third period. Nylander has scored in back-to-back games and recorded five points (3G, 2A) through his last four games.
- Mitch Marner registered the secondary assist on Matthews’ power play goal. Marner extended his point streak to 11 games where he has
posted 15 points (3G, 12A). - Matt Murray stopped 30 of 33 shots he faced in the overtime loss.
TONIGHT’S GAME
2022-23 Matchups vs. Buffalo: First of Three
2021-22 Record vs. Buffalo: 1-3-0
Toronto Season Record: 9-5-4
Toronto Home Record: 6-2-2
TONIGHT’S STORYLINES
The Maple Leafs face-off against the Buffalo Sabres tonight in the first of three matchups between the clubs this season. Toronto will visit the Sabres at KeyBank Center on Feb. 21, 2023 for their second game of the season. The Maple Leafs have won six of their last 10 games against the Sabres that were played at Scotiabank Arena. Toronto has posted a 5-1-2 record through the month of November.
BROADCAST INFORMATION
TV: Sportsnet RADIO: TSN 1050
NEXT GAME
Date: Monday, November 21, 2022
Opponent: vs. New York Islanders
Time: 7:30 pm ET
Broadcast Information: Sportsnet (TV), Sportsnet 590 (Radio)
Toronto Maple Leafs: Media Notes
INJURY REPORT
TJ Brodie Oblique (IR)
Carl Dahlström Shoulder (IR)
Jake Muzzin Neck (LTIR)
Ilya Samsonov Knee (IR)
ALL-TIME VS. BUFFALO SABRES:
First Matchup between Clubs: November 18, 1970 (Toronto 2 vs. Buffalo 7)
All-Time Record: 84-109-18-11 (222 Games)
All-Time Record at Home: 51-42-12-5 (110 Games)
All-Time Record on the Road: 33-67-6-6 (112 Games)
Last Home Win vs. Opponent: December 17, 2019 (Toronto 5 vs. Buffalo 3)
ACTIVE LEADERS VS. BUFFALO SABRES:
Games Played: John Tavares (38), Wayne Simmonds (32), Morgan Rielly (30)
Goals: John Tavares (22), Auston Matthews (12), Mitch Marner (6), Wayne Simmonds (6)
Assists: John Tavares (21), Morgan Rielly (16), Mitch Marner (11), William Nylander (11), Mark Giordano (11)
Points: John Tavares (43), Auston Matthews (19), Morgan Rielly (19), Mitch Marner (17)
Penalty Minutes Wayne Simmonds (27), Zach Aston-Reese (19), John Tavares (18)
2022-23 AVERAGES AND RANKINGS
Points % GF/Game GA/Game PP% PK% SF/G SA/G FO%
Toronto .611 2.89 2.72 25.4 78.3 31.2 28.1 51.6
Buffalo .412 3.53 3.59 22.4 72.2 31.8 31.9 47.3
THE MAN ADVANTAGE IN 2022-23
Power Play: 25.4%
Power Play Goal Leader: 6 – Matthews
Power Play Point Leader: 10 – Tavares (5G, 5A), Matthews (6G, 4A)
2021-22 Power Play: 63/231 (27.3%)
ON THE PK IN 2022-23
Penalty Kill: 78.3%
Shorthanded Goal Leader: 1 – Järnkrok
Shorthanded Point Leader: 1 – Järnkrok (1G), Brodie (1A), Kerfoot (1A)
2021-22 Penalty Kill: 192/234 (82.1%)
FAST FACTS
Saturday games 6th of 22 (10 home, 12 road)
Back-to-Backs played 4 of 14
Record in first game of back-toback 1-3-0
Record in second game of back-toback 3-0-1
November games 9th of 15 (9 home, 6 road)
