SAN JOSE SHARKS NOTES:
Last Game
Game 27 – 12/3 – SJS 2 at OTT 5…Tomas Hertl (2g, 0a) led the Sharks offensively with a pair of first period goals. Kevin Labanc
(0g, 1a) hit the 10-assist mark on the campaign. San Jose surrendered multiple power-play goals for the first time this season and
allowed three for the first time since Feb. 13, 2021 vs VGK.
SJ Goals: Hertl (8 pp), Hertl (9)
SF: 37
SA: 39
SJ PP: 1/4
SJ PK: 2/5
W: Forsberg
L: Kahkonen
Recent Transactions
12/1 Assigned F Jeff Viel to the San Jose Barracuda
11/28 Placed G James Reimer on IR; recalled F Jeff Viel from the San Jose Barracuda
11/27 Recalled D Scott Harrington from the San Jose Barracuda
11/26 Recalled G Aaron Dell from the San Jose Barracuda; placed D Mario Ferraro on IR
11/25 Re-assigned G Aaron Dell to the San Jose Barracuda
11/23 Activated D Radim Simek from IR; placed F Nico Sturm on IR
11/22 Recalled G Aaron Dell from the San Jose Barracuda
11/18 Assigned D Scott Harrington to the San Jose Barracuda
11/14 Placed D Radim Simek on IR; recalled D Nick Cicek from the San Jose Barracuda
Tonight’s Opponent: Buffalo Sabres
San Jose enters today’s contest on the heels of a loss in Ottawa last night. The Sharks will be completing their sixth back-to-back set
this season, and second in the last five days. The Sabres, meanwhile, were inactive last night after they hosted the Colorado Avalanche
the day prior, dropping a high-scoring 4-6 contest against the 2022 Stanley Cup Champions. Buffalo hasn’t struggled offensively in
recent days, with the team recording four or more goals in five of their last six contests. Six-foot-six forward Tage Thompson leads
Buffalo in scoring this season and he is currently clipping above a point-per-game pace for the first time in his career. San Jose claimed
victory in both legs of the season series in 2021-22, with a Nov. 2 5-3 home victory and a 3-2 victory in Buffalo on Jan. 6.
Dec. 4, 4:00 p.m. PT
SAN JOSE SHARKS at BUFFALO SABRES
8-15-4 (20 pts), 7
th in Pacific 2022-23 RECORD 10-13-1 (21 pts), 8
th in Atlantic
1-3-1 LAST 5 GAMES 2-2-1
First meeting SEASON SERIES First meeting
14-22-4-5 ALL-TIME RECORD AGAINST OPPONENT 27-12-4-2
2022-23 PLAYER STATS
8 players (27) GAMES PLAYED LEADER 8 players (24)
Logan Couture (13) GOALS LEADER Tage Thompson (15)
Erik Karlsson (22) ASSISTS LEADER Rasmus Dahlin (19)
Erik Karlsson (33) POINTS LEADER Brady Tkachuk (32)
IN RARE ER…Erik Karlsson continued his historic start to the season by notching his 30th point of the campaign on Wednesday (11/23) at Seattle, becoming just the third defenseman since 1991-92 to reach the 30-point mark in 22 games, joining John Carlson and Bryan McCabe. With his pair of assists on Sunday vs. Vancouver (11/27), Karlsson became the first Sharks defenseman to reach 20 points in a calendar month (6g, 21a), a feat accomplished by three NHL defensemen last season (Roman Josi, Victor Hedman and Kris Letang). The Sharks blue-liner’s 28 points through 19 games was the second-most since the turn of the century among defensemen, trailing only Carlson’s 29 (8g, 21a) in the 2019-20 campaign. Karlsson has factored into 33 of 78 goals scored for San Jose this season (42.3-percent). Per NHL PR, the highest-ever rate in the NHL’s modern era (since the 1943-44 season) at which a defenseman factored into team goals for a season was Bobby Orr, 43.3-percent in 1969-70.
HERTL HEATING UP… Tomas Hertl scored both of San Jose’s goals in their 2-5 loss in Ottawa on Dec. 3, four days after potting a pair in a shutout win over Montreal. The forward has now found the scoresheet in 11 of the past 14 games with seven multi-point efforts in the past 16 games. Hertl registered a season-high three points in San Jose’s 11/5 game against the Anaheim Ducks, including a goal and two assists and has 22 points (6g, 16a) in the team’s previous 21 games dating back to October 20 at the New York Rangers. He had goals in three consecutive contests for the first time this season from 11/5 – 11/11 and notched his 400th career NHL point on November 11 with an assist.
IT’S TIMO TIME… Timo Meier’s six-game point streak came to a close Sunday (11/27) vs. Vancouver, finishing with eight points and five goals in that span, highlighted by his fourth-career hat trick Wednesday (11/23) against Seattle. Meier, who took sole possession of 10th on the Sharks’ all-time ranks in goals scored on Nov. 10 and ranks second on the Sharks with 12 markers on the season, claimed a five-game goal-scoring streak earlier this month (11/1 – 11/11, 6g) and found the back of the net in eight of 15 November games. He ranked tied-third in the NHL with 11 goals in November, trailing only Dallas’s Jason Robertson (18) and Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl (12). Meier leads the NHL with 131 shots on goal.
LO-VEMBER…Logan Couture took the team goal-scoring lead with his 13th of the season Tuesday at Montreal, breaking a tie with Timo Meier. The captain posted a career-long five-game goal streak which ended on Friday (11/27), finishing one game behind San Jose’s team record of six games. Couture has lit the lamp in nine of the past 12 contests with five multi-point efforts and 15 points (9g, 6a) in that span. Couture totaled 16 points (9g, 7a) in 14 November contests.
CRANK THE POWER… The Sharks’ power play has been hot of late, cashing in on 12 of 45 (26.7%) trips to the man-advantage since the start of a six-game home stand on October 25, good for a spot in the top 10 in the NHL in that span. San Jose has gone empty in just eight games in that stretch, including Nov. 10 at St. Louis and Nov. 30 at Toronto when the team had zero power play opportunities.
PRIME PENALTY KILL…San Jose killed off its first 22 penalties of the season before finally allowing a power play goal on Oct. 22 at New Jersey. The Sharks allowed three power play goals on Saturday in Ottawa for the first time in over a year (Feb. 13, 2021 vs VGK) but still enter tonight’s contest with the league’s top PK unit at 88.2-percent. Elsewhere on this road trip, the Sharks posted stout 6-for-6 and 3-for-3 efforts against Montreal and Toronto, respectively. The Maple Leafs had a scorching 28.3% power play at home this season entering Nov. 30’s game. San Jose has been operating at a league-best 87.5-percent shorthanded efficiency since the 2022 NHL All-Star break, and the Sharks have the league’s second-best penalty kill percentage since the start of the 2020-21 season (83.9-percent).
COMEBACK KIDS…The Sharks overcame a two-goal deficit en route to a 3-2 shootout victory on November 13 at Minnesota, the team’s first multi-goal comeback win of the season and first since 4/24/22 at Vegas, a 5-4 shootout decision. San Jose has come from behind in four of eight wins on the year, including each contest of a three-game win streak Friday (11/11) at Dallas (trailed 1-0), Sunday (11/13) at Minnesota (trailed 2-0) and Tuesday at Vegas (trailed 1-0 and 2-1). San Jose was the first team to earn a win over Vegas when trailing after two periods on the year (the Knights had been 7-0-0). Per NHL PR, the three-game road trip was the first time since March 14-17, 2018 that the Sharks earned three consecutive come-from-behind wins in one road stint. San Jose has erased a third-period deficit in five of the past 11 games, going 4-6-1 in that span.
REIM TIME…Sharks goaltender James Reimer earned his first shutout of the season on Oct. 23 with a 30-save performance at Philadelphia. Reimer’s shutout, his fifth as a Shark, moved him into a tie with Aaron Dell for eighth on the franchise’s all-time shutouts list. He recorded his third 41-save effort of the season on Saturday (11/19) against the New York Rangers, including saves on the first 40 shots he faced in the game. Reimer also owns a .937 shorthanded save percentage since joining the Sharks at the start of the 2021-22 season, the best in the NHL in that span (min. 10 games played) and the best two-season stretch by a goaltender since the NHL began tracking the statistic in 1997-98 (min. 30 games played, second best is Cory Schneider from 2010-12 with a .936 SV% in 58 GP).
GRIER’S GAMEPLAN…On July 5, Sharks president Jonathan Becher and assistant general manager Joe Will introduced Mike Grier as the team’s fifth General Manager and first black general manager in NHL history. The 47-year-old appeared in 221 games with the Sharks from 2006 through 2008 as part of a 14-season, 1,060 game NHL playing career. Just two days later, Grier was with the team as they selected center Filip Bystedt with the 27th overall pick in the 2022 NHL Draft. On July 13, the Sharks traded longtime defenseman Brent Burns and signed Matt Benning, Oskar Lindblom, Markus Nutivaara and Nico Sturm on the first day of free agency. A full list of players under NHL contract that have joined the organization since July 5 is below:
QUINN FOR THE WIN…On July 26, Grier introduced David Quinn as Head Coach of the Sharks and later named Scott Gordon, Ryan Warsofsky and Brian Wiseman as Assistant Coaches, Thomas Speer NHL Goaltending Coach and Nick Gialdini Video Coach. Quinn, who most recently served as head coach for Team USA at both the 2022 Winter Olympics and 2022 World Championship, spent three seasons as head coach of the New York Rangers from 2018 to 2021, earning a 96-87-25 record. In his three years, the Rangers held the league’s eighth-best power-play percentage (22.1%), ranked seventh in team blocked shots (4,195) and takeaways (2,244), and were tied for tenth in wins when trailing first (52). Adam Fox, who made his NHL debut under Quinn in 2019-20, was awarded the Norris Trophy following the 2020-21 season. Quinn’s first NHL win was a 3-2 overtime victory against the Sharks at Madison Square Garden with the Rangers on Oct. 11, 2018. His first NHL win with the Sharks was a 3-2 overtime victory against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden on Oct. 21, 2022. The 56-year-old recorded his 100th career NHL win on 11/11 at Dallas, a 5-4 final.
BUFFALO SABRES NOTES:
LAST GAME
Thursday, Dec. 1
Colorado 6 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Peterka, Thompson, Cozens, Tuch
Goalie: Luukkonen (28 saves/33 shots; 1 ENG)
PP: 2/7; PK: 3/6; Shots: Colorado 34 – Buffalo 28
CURRENT INJURIES – (Man Games Lost: 56)
Player (injury, first game missed) – total games missed
Eric Comrie (Lower body, Nov. 19; IR) – 7 games
Jacob Bryson (Lower body, Nov. 25; IR) – 4 games
Ilya Lyubushkin (Lower body, Nov. 30) – 2 games
TRANSACTIONS IN PAST 7 DAYS
11/28: Terminated the contract of F Riley Sheahan
UPCOMING GAMES
Wednesday, Dec. 7: Buffalo at Columbus, 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 9: Pittsburgh at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 10: Buffalo at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, Dec. 13: Los Angeles at Buffalo, 7 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 15: Buffalo at Colorado, 9 p.m.
TONIGHT’S GAME
SHARKS at SABRES
• This is the first of two meetings between the Sabres and the Sharks this season.
• Last meeting: San Jose defeated Buffalo 3-2 in Buffalo on Jan. 6, 2022.
• Next meeting: Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023 in San Jose.
• The Sabres are 4-6-0 in their last 10 games against the Sharks; 7-2-1 at home.
• This is the 46th game all-time between Buffalo and San Jose; Buffalo has a 27-12-6 series record.
• The Sabres are 19-3-1 at home against the Sharks all-time.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW
• Six Sabres skaters (Dylan Cozens, Rasmus Dahlin, JJ Peterka, Jack Quinn, Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson) are riding three-game point streaks.
• Cozens is riding a three-game goal streak and a point in tonight’s game would give him the longest point streak of his career.
• Dahlin and Thompson have both recorded four assists in their last three games, including at least one in each of their last three games.
• Tage Thompson has notched 29 points (14+15) in his last 17 games.
• Jeff Skinner owns 14 points (8+6) in his last 11 games, including 11 (6+5) in his last six.
• Skinner has recorded as many multi-point games (7) as single-point games in 2022-23.
• Dylan Cozens has tallied 13 points (5+8) in his last 11 games.
• Cozens has scored five goals in his last five games.
• Rasmus Dahlin has recorded 10 points (1+9) in his last nine games.
• Jack Quinn owns seven points (3+4) in his last seven games.
• An assist in tonight’s game would give Quinn a three-game assist streak.
FISH ARE FRIENDS, NOT FOOD
• The Sabres are 19-3-1 at home against the Sharks all-time.
• In 45 matchups between the Sabres and the Sharks all-time, Buffalo has earned 66.7 percent of the total possible points, the highest percentage against any team the Sabres have faced.
• Jeff Skinner has recorded 10 goals in 18 career games against the Sharks, including 6 goals in his last 5 games.
o Skinner has recorded at least one point in each of the six games he has played against the Sharks as a member of the Sabres. He is riding a six-game point streak against San Jose.
o Skinner owns 11 points (10+1) in his last 11 games against San Jose.
• Kyle Okposo has tallied 12 points (3+9) in nine home games against the Sharks in his career.
• A point in tonight’s game would give Alex Tuch a three-game point streak against the Sharks.
HISTORY IN THE MAKING
• The Sabres have converted on 26.4 percent of their power-play opportunities through their first 24 games of 2022-23.
o The current franchise record for power-play percentage in a single season is 24.5 percent, set in 2016-17.
• Buffalo currently owns a 5-on-5 shot attempts percentage of 52.5 percent, the highest mark by a Sabres team in a single season since the league began tracking the stat in 2009-10.
• Buffalo’s 3.71 goals scored per game is highest by a Sabres team since the 1992-93 Sabres recorded 3.99 goals per game.
• Three Sabres skaters (Rasmus Dahlin, 1.17, Jeff Skinner, 1.04; Tage Thompson, 1.33) have scored at least one point per game played through the team’s first 24 games.
• The 2006-07 Sabres were the last team in franchise history to have three or more skaters with at least one point per game played (Maxim Afinogenov, 1.09; Daniel Briere, 1.17; Thomas Vanek, 1.02).
WALK THE LINE
• According to Natural Stat Trick, the line of Jeff Skinner, Tage Thompson and Alex Tuch owns a corsi for percentage of 63.77 and an expected goals for percentage of 56.90.
• When on the ice together, Skinner, Thompson and Tuch have recorded 27 goals and allowed just 13.
• The trio has recorded a combined 37 goals on the season, 41.57 percent of all goals scored by Buffalo skaters in 2022-23.
• Skinner (7 multi-point games), Thompson (8 multi-point games) and Tuch (5 multi-point games) have all recorded multiple points in at least five games in 2022-23.
• Entering play on Saturday, Skinner and Thompson were two of 16 NHL skaters who had recorded three or more multi-goal games.
• Skinner (25 points, 11+14), Thompson (32 points, 15+17), Tuch (23 points, 11+12) all rank in the top three in points among Sabres forwards.
BUDDING STARS
• According to Natural Stat Trick, the line combination consisting of Dylan Cozens, JJ Peterka and Jack Quinn has produced 8 high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5 for the Sabres in 79:43 of ice time at 5-on-5 together.
• All but three of the high-danger scoring chances they have created as a line have come at 5-on-5.
• At 5-on-5, the line’s expected goals for percentage is 60.44 and their corsi for percentage is 54.65.
• The line’s collective 5-on-5 corsi for percentage and 5-on-5 expected goals for percentage is higher than each individual member’s percentages without the other two.
• Cozens (21), Peterka (20) and Quinn (21) are all 21 years of age or younger.
• Entering play on Saturday, Cozens (21 points) was tied for fourth in scoring among NHL skaters aged 21 or younger.
ALL THE TAGE
• Through Buffalo’s first 24 games, Thompson is on pace for 109 points and would become just the sixth Sabres skater to record 100 or more points in a single season (Pat LaFontaine, 148 points in 1992-93; Alexander Mogilny, 127 points in 1992-93; Gilbert Perreault, 113 points in 1975-76 and 106 points in 1979-80; Pierre Turgeon, 106 points in 1989-90 and Rene Robert, 100 points in 1974-75).
• Thompson is also on pace to score 52 goals in 2022-23, which would make him the first Sabres skater since Alexander Mogilny (76) in 1992-93 to record 50 or more goals in a single season.
A 50-goal season would make Thompson just the fifth skater (Danny Gare, Pat LaFontaine, Rick Martin, Mogilny) in franchise history to reach that plateau at least once.
• Entering play on Saturday and dating back to Oct. 29, Thompson ranked second in the NHL in goals (14) and points (29) and was fourth in points per game (1.71).
• Thompson leads all Sabres skaters in goals (15), points (32), even-strength points (19), points per game (1.33), shots (108) and power-play goals (6).
• Thompson is also tied for the team lead in even-strength goals (8) and shorthanded goals (1).
• Thompson is tied for first among all Sabres forwards in time on ice per game (18:40) and all Sabres skaters in time on ice per shift (0:49).
• According to Natural Stat Trick, Thompson leads all Sabres skaters with 51 individual high-danger scoring chances and 40 individual high-danger scoring chances at 5-on-5.
• Entering play on Saturday, Thompson was tied for fourth in the league with 108 shots on goal and was one of 10 NHL players who had recorded 100 or more shots in 2022-23.
• Thompson owned the second-highest shooting percentage (13.9) among the 10 players who had recorded 100 or more shots on goal.
RAS MAN STANDING
• Rasmus Dahlin is on pace for 95 points this season, which would shatter Phil Housley’s single-season franchise points record by a Sabres defenseman (81).
• Dahlin is also on pace to score 28 goals and he would become the second Sabres defensemen, and the first since Phil Housley (29) in 1987-88, to record 28 or more goals in a single season.
• Entering play on Saturday, among NHL defensemen, Dahlin ranked second in goals (8), second in points (27), second in points per game (1.17), tied for first in power-play goals (4), second in power-play points (13), fourth in time on ice per game (26:12) and fifth in shots (78).
• Through his first 23 games, Dahlin has only failed to record a point on four occasions (Oct. 27 vs. Montreal, Nov. 12 vs. Boston, Nov. 23 vs. St. Louis and Nov. 25 vs. New Jersey).
• Dahlin (602:36) is the only Sabres skaters who has logged more than 600 or more minutes of ice time through the team’s first 24 games.
• Entering play on Saturday, only 4 skaters in the NHL had skated 600 or more minutes in 2022-23 and Dahlin was the only one with fewer than 25 games played.
UNLIMITED POWER
• Entering play on Saturday, Owen Power and Jake Sanderson were the only defensemen aged 20 or younger who had notched 10 or more points this season.
• Entering play on Saturday, Owen Power ranked third among rookie defensemen in points (10) and was second in even-strength points (7).
• Entering play on Saturday, Power led all rookie skaters in time on ice per game (23:38), with the next closest rookie at 21:03 (Sanderson).
• Power’s time on ice per game trails just Tyler Myers (23:44) in 2009-10 for the most by a Sabres rookie in a single season.
• Power leads all Sabres skaters in even-strength time on ice per game (20:42). No Sabres rookie has ever averaged more than 20 minutes of even-strength time on ice per game.
• Through Buffalo’s first 24 games, Power has recorded multiple points on three separate occasions (Oct. 20, 0+2; Nov. 2, 0+2; Nov. 5, 0+2), tied for first among rookie defensemen in 2022-23 entering play on Saturday.
SABRES AMONG LEAGUE-LEADERS (Sabres’ league rankings before 12/3 games)
• Buffalo Sabres: 89 GF (T-3rd), 3.71 GF/GP (5th), 26.4 PP% (8th)
• Rasmus Asplund: 1 SHG (T-7th)
• Dylan Cozens: 1 SHG (T-7th), 2 SHP (T-4th)
• Rasmus Dahlin: 26:12 TOI/GP (4th), 13 PPP (T-10th)
• Casey Mittelstadt: 1 SHG (T-7th)
• Victor Olofsson: 1 OTG (T-5th)
• Tage Thompson: 15 G (5th), 32 P (T-6th), 6 PPG (T-7th), 1 SHG (T-7th), 108 S (4th)
• Alex Tuch: 4 GWG (T-2nd)
SABRES REAL-TIME STATS LEADERS
Shots: Thompson (108), Dahlin (78), Skinner (75)
Hits: Dahlin (39), Lyubushkin (36), Samuelsson (22)
Blocked Shots: Dahlin (42), Bryson (31), Power (29)
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: 2-8-0 (4), 32/42, 12/42, 23/34
21-30: 1-2-1 (3), 15/19, 3/11, 11/18
OVERTIME RESULTS (1-1; 131-147 all-time)
Oct. 29 vs. CHI: W, 4-3 (GWG-Olofsson)
Nov. 28 vs. TBL: L, 6-5 (GWG-Stamkos)
SHOOTOUT RESULTS (1-0; 85-77 all-time)
Nov. 30 at DET: W, 5-4 (GWG-Quinn)LAST GAME
Thursday, Dec. 1
Colorado 6 at Buffalo 4
Goals: Peterka, Thompson, Cozens, Tuch
Goalie: Luukkonen (28 saves/33 shots; 1 ENG)
PP: 2/7; PK: 3/6; Shots: Colorado 34 – Buffalo 28
